Three Huskies Earn ITA Northwest Regional Honors
May 09, 2016 | Men's Tennis
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced the 2015-16 regional award winners today, with three Huskies earning honors.
In the Northwest Region, associate head coach Chris Russell won the ITA Assistant Coach of the Year, Enzo Sommer won the ITA Rookie of the Year, and the ITA Player to Watch award went to Mitch Stewart.
Russell is in his 12th season with the Huskies and has helped guide them to the NCAA Championships this year for the 10th time in his career with Washington. This isn't his first ITA coaching honor as he has previously been named the ITA West Region Head Coach of the Year, and has been honored as the Pac-10 and Big West Conference Head Coach of the Year as well.
A freshman from Denges, Switzerland, Enzo Sommer opened up the season at the four spot in singles before moving up to court two by season's end. He was named the fourth best newcomer or freshman to begin the year by the ITA, and ended the season with 31 wins in singles and doubles combined. His biggest win on the season came against No. 12 Texas when he grabbed the match clinching point with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 114 Michael Riechmann.
Playing all but one of his singles matches at the one spot, sophomore Mitch Stewart finished with the second most wins on the team, and a 21-10 record. The Federal Way, Wash. native began the fall season ranked No. 62 nationally in singles, and was ranked as high as 68th during dual match play. In the fall, Stewart was a finalist at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships and began the regular season by being named the first Pac-12 Player of the Week.
The 17-9 Huskies will head to Lubbock, Texas this week to prepare for their NCAA Tournament opener against Southern Methodist University on Saturday May 14th. The match will be at 8 a.m. PT, with the winner facing either Texas Tech or New Mexico State the following day to determine the regional winner.
