Noah Rubin Honored With ITA’s Rookie of the Year Honors

May 20, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has announced its national award winners for Division I Men's and Women's Tennis, among them, Rockville Centre, N.Y.’s Noah Rubin, a freshman at Wake Forest University and student of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA), who was named ITA 2015 Rookie Player of the Year. Also recognized was Columbia University’s Howard Endelman, named 2015 ITA Assistant Coach of the Year.

Men's Award Winners
ITA Rookie Player of the Year: Noah Rubin, Wake Forest University
Noah Rubin, the 2015 ITA Rookie Player of the Year, made ACC history by becoming the first player to claim both ACC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors. He registered a 21-3 record this season at Wake Forest, which includes a 13-3 mark against nationally-ranked opponents and a win over then-number one Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville. Rubin was ranked atop the ITA Preseason Newcomer/Freshman Rankings to start the season and has worked his way to No. 6 in the ITA National Singles Rankings. He will be the number seven seed in the upcoming NCAA Singles Championship.

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year: Howard Endelman, Columbia University
Howard Endelman, the 2015 ITA Assistant Coach of the Year, has guided Columbia to several program firsts during his five years with the team. Columbia has made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first in school history, and prior to last season Columbia had never won a match at the NCAA Team Championships. During the 2013-14 season, Columbia's top doubles pairing of Max Schnur & Ashok Narayana claimed the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Doubles Championship for the first national title in program history. Endelman was named the ITA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2013, and the team has compiled a 38-8 record over the past two seasons.

Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year: David Roditi, Texas Christian University
David Roditi, the 2015 Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year, led TCU to its fourth NCAA Tournament Final Four in school history this year, after beginning this season ranked 37th in the ITA National Team Rankings. TCU has risen all the way to sixth in the latest poll. In the fall, Roditi's players swept the USTA/ITA Texas Regional Championships, then started the spring season by knocking off then-number 10 Texas A&M at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and qualifying for the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship. Roditi's team won 11 of its final 13 matches to finish 25-8 on the season.

ITA Senior Player of the Year: Søren Hess-Olesen, University of Texas
Søren Hess-Olesen, the 2015 ITA Senior Player of the Year, went 30-6 this season and crossed the 100 career wins plateau. In March, he achieved the number one ITA National Singles Ranking. Hess-Olesen reached the singles final of the USTA/ITA Texas Regional Championship in the fall and won his first 17 matches of the spring, 13 of which came against nationally-ranked competition. He is currently ranked fourth in the ITA National Singles Rankings and 19th in the ITA National Doubles Rankings. Hess-Olesen is the sixth seed in the NCAA Singles Championship.

ITA Player to Watch: Andrew Harris, University of Oklahoma
Andrew Harris, the 2015 ITA Player to Watch and last year's Big 12 Freshman of the Year and ITA Central Region Rookie of the Year, played first and second singles this season for the number one-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Harris has posted a 25-8 record this year in singles and earned the number seven spot in the ITA National Singles Rankings. He will be the four seed in the NCAA Singles Championship. Harris also recorded a 23-13 doubles record this season and scored victories during the NCAA Team Tournament over the number one, 12th and 30th nationally-ranked doubles teams.

ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year: Jonny Wang, University of Southern California
Jonny Wang, the 2015 ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year, worked his way from being outside the lineup his freshman season to becoming a staple in the heart of the lineup the last two seasons. This year, he climbed as high as number eight in the ITA National Singles Rankings. In the fall, Wang reached the Round of 16 at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships, advanced to the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championship singles final and won a round at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. He turned in a 29-8 record this season, carried a 16-match winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, and qualified for his second straight NCAA Singles Championship.

ITA/Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award: Mitchell Frank, University of Virginia
Mitchell Frank, the 2015 ITA/Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award winner, is a two-time champion of the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championship and was 2011 champion of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Singles Championship. He also clinched the NCAA Team Championship for Virginia in 2013. Frank earned the top spot in the ITA National Singles Rankings several times during his career and has posted a 98-12 career record to date. The senior captain is two-time ITA All-American, a four-time All-ACC honoree, a CoSIDA 1st Team Academic All-District honoree and was named the 2014 ACC Men's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award: Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, University of Louisville
Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, the 2015 ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award winner, captured the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Singles Championship in the fall and vaulted from number 110 in the ITA National Singles Rankings all the way to number one in the country. He went 40-6 in singles play and 23-13 in doubles this season. The Louisville senior's 40 wins are a single-season program record, and he is a four-time all-conference first team selection. He will participate in the NCAA Singles Championship as the number five seed. Stiefelmeyer graduated with a 3.81 GPA and served as the vice president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, teaching tennis to underprivileged communities and speaking at high schools about culture shock.

Women's Award Winners
Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year: Geoff Macdonald, Vanderbilt University
Geoff Macdonald, the 2015 Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year, reached several milestones this season. In his 21st season at Vanderbilt, Macdonald picked up his 400th win, led the team to its first ever SEC Tournament Championship, was voted SEC Coach of the Year by his peers and will play for the NCAA Team Championship later today. The team achieved a program-best number four seed in the NCAA Tournament this year and upset top-seeded USC on Monday. On his home courts, Macdonald's team posted its second straight undefeated record and is currently riding a 21-match home win streak. Two of Macdonald's players made the All-SEC First Team this year, while two more received Second Team honors and a fifth made the freshman team.

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year: Aleke Tsoubanos, Vanderbilt University
Aleke Tsoubanos, the 2015 ITA Assistant Coach of the Year, is in her eighth year of coaching her alma mater Vanderbilt and helped the team reach new heights this season, winning its first ever SEC Tournament title and achieving a program-best No. 4 seed at the NCAA team tournament. The team also posted a trifecta of wins over perennial contender Florida, including a win in the NCAA Quarterfinals to reach team's first Final Four bid since 2004. Vanderbilt followed up that win by upsetting top-seeded USC, 4-0, to advance to the championship match. Tsoubanos is a gifted doubles coach who works tirelessly with each player on the team, honing their skills and teaching doubles tactics in a fun, lively, and memorable way.

ITA Player to Watch: Stephanie Wagner, University of Miami (FL)
Stephanie Wagner, the 2015 ITA Player to Watch, is currently ranked in the Top 20 nationally in singles and doubles. A three-time All-ACC selection, she posted a 14-4 dual matches singles record in 2015 and fared well against top competition, scoring nine wins over nationally ranked opponents. The junior at Miami was a singles semifinalist at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in the fall and led the Hurricanes with a 3-0 record during ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Wagner also posted an undefeated conference doubles record during the spring.

ITA Senior Player of the Year: Robin Anderson, UCLA
Robin Anderson, the 2015 ITA Senior Player of the Year, is a six-time ITA All-American who has been ranked number one in the ITA National Singles and Doubles Rankings throughout her career. She has posted a 23-2 singles record as a senior and was champion of the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in the fall. In her career, Anderson has also won the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Singles and Doubles Championships, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Singles Championship, and was UCLA's MVP during its 2014 NCAA Championship season. The team captain has registered more than 200 combined win during her collegiate career, with a singles record of 123-14 and a 99-36 mark in doubles. Anderson will leave UCLA as one of the most accomplished tennis players of all time.

ITA Rookie Player of the Year: Brooke Austin, University of Florida
Brooke Austin, the 2015 ITA Rookie Player of the Year, has had a fantastic start to her career, winning more than 50 combined singles and doubles matches while playing first singles and first doubles for Florida. She made an instant impact nationally during the fall when she won the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional doubles crown and reached the singles semifinals of both the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships and the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Austin was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, becoming just the second freshman to win both awards in the same season. She has maintained a top 10 ITA National Ranking all season long in both singles and doubles and is currently ranked in the top six of each.

ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year: Julia Jones, University of Mississippi
Julia Jones, the 2015 ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year, played both number one singles and number one doubles for Ole Miss this season and posted a 29-10 record in singles, adding 11 wins in doubles to record 40 combined wins for the year. A team captain, Jones is a three-time All-SEC honoree and was named First Team All-SEC for the first time as a senior. She is also a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and an SEC Academic Honor Roll member. In the fall, she won the USTA/ITA Southern Regional Singles Championship and in the spring became the seventh member of her school's 100-wins club. After finishing last season ranked 100th in the ITA National Singles Rankings, Jones is currently ranked 10th in the ITA National Singles Rankings.

Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship: Lindsey Kayati, Rutgers University
Lindsey Kayati, the 2015 Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship winner, began her freshman season as the number seven player in Rutgers lineup and just finished her junior season playing primarily second singles. Her steady rise in the lineup has come while facing a diagnosis of epilepsy. She never used her diagnosis as an excuse but instead focuses on the positive in every situation, inspiring her teammates with her work ethic and competitive nature on the court. In the classroom, Kayati is a Dean's List student, and she is active in community service projects around the community. She soon hopes to join the Epilepsy Foundation's Athletes vs. Epilepsy initiative as an athletic ambassador. Kayati's commitment to her teammates and to the welfare of athletes with her condition epitomizes the spirit of this award.

ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award: Lorraine Guillermo, Pepperdine University
Lorraine Guillermo, the 2015 ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Award winner, is the most accomplished on the court at Pepperdine in more than two decades. This year she became the first Pepperdine player to earn a Top 16 seed at the NCAA Singles Championship since 1990. Guillermo is a three-time First-Team All-Conference singles honoree and a four-time honoree in doubles. The team captain and the lone senior on the roster, she led Pepperdine to a fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance this year. Off the court, she is involved with her school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee, volunteers at a Children's Hunger Fund and clothing drives and leads student Convocation and Bible studies. Guillermo was recently honored by her university with the Maurice Hilliard Award, which recognizes a student for their character, living a life of purpose and commitment to Christian Faith.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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