From University of Chicago Athletics
Three University of Chicago tennis players and Head Coach Jay Tee received year-end awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Thursday.
Senior Megan Tang was awarded the ITA Central Region Women's Senior Player of the Year. Tang will be participating in her third NCAA postseason in both singles and doubles. So far this year, she owns 20-10 record in singles and a 23-12 mark in doubles. Tang and doubles partner Ariana Iranpour won the 2014 ITA Central Region Championship and finished third at the 2014 ITA National Small College Championships. In her four-year career, Tang owns a career singles record of 90-31 and a career doubles mark of 77-43.
Iranpour also received recognition from the ITA as she was named Central Region Women's Rookie of the Year. The freshman posted a team-best singles record of 25-8 and joined with Tang to go 23-12 in doubles. In the fall, Iranpour was the runner-up in singles at the ITA Central Region Championships.
The ITA Central Region Men's Rookie of the Year honor was given to Nicolas Chua. The freshman played at the top of UChicago's lineup all year and posted a singles record of 26-8 to go with a 19-3 doubles mark. Chua had a successful fall as well, winning the singles titles at the 2014 ITA Central Region Championships and the 2014 ITA National Small College Championships. Last week, he earned University Athletic Association (UAA) Rookie of the Year and Second Team All-UAA status at No. 1 singles and No. 3 doubles.
Tee picked up Wilson/ITA Central Region Men's Coach of the Year to round out the awards. Now in his third season, Tee led the UChicago men to a 16-5 overall record and a No. 8 ranking in the latest ITA national poll. The Maroons returned to the NCAA postseason as a team for the third time in program history and the first time since 2011.
"I'm incredibly proud that Nick, Megan and Ariana were recognized for the unbelievable years they had, and in Megan's case, an incredible four-year career," Tee said. "I told the team way back in September that if we work as hard as we can every day that good things will come and this is their hard work paying off. Megan has been one of our hardest-working players over the past four years and it's great to see her earn this recognition as her career winds down. Nick and Ariana came in with high expectations for themselves and then proceeded to exceed those expectations in their first three weeks of their college careers and only got better from there."