January 30, 2014

Dualiby, Rickenbaker Named Preseason All-SAC

The Mars Hill women’s tennis team was picked to finish in ninth place in the South Atlantic Conference by the league’s coaches in a poll released Thursday. Seniors Tatiana Dualiby and Anna Rickenbaker were named preseason all-conference.

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Mars Hill women's tennis team was picked to finish in ninth place in the South Atlantic Conference by the league's coaches in a poll released Thursday. Seniors Tatiana Dualiby and Anna Rickenbaker were named preseason all-conference.

Mars Hill received 41 points in the poll, five behind eighth place Carson-Newman. Last year, the Lions went 2-7 in the league and 2-12 overall.

Dualiby received Second Team Singles honors after she went 5-4 in conference play as the No. 1 singles player in 2013. Dualiby went 6-8 overall and won three of her final four matches. Dualiby was named Second Team All-SAC in 2011 and 2013 and earned First Team honors in 2012.

Rickenbaker and Dualiby earned Second Team doubles accolades. The duo went 3-0 in three matches played together last season and are expected to team up as Mars Hill's top doubles pairing this season.

Wingate – which has also won three-straight Food Lion SAC Tournament championships – earned eight of the 12 first-place votes in the preseason coaches' poll. The Bulldogs are coming off a 2013 season in which they went 19-6 overall and a perfect 9-0 in the conference.

2013 SAC runner-up Tusculum is second in the 2014 preseason poll, and received the other four first-place votes. TC finished just one game back of Wingate in the conference standings last year, going 8-1 against league foes.

Anderson is third in the poll, followed by No. 4 Newberry, No. 5 Queens, No. 6 Lincoln Memorial and No. 7 Catawba. Newberry and Catawba tied for fourth and LMU finished sixth in last year's SAC standings, while Queens' 2014 season will mark its first in the conference.

The complete preseason poll and all-conference teams are listed below.

2014 SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll

1. Wingate 116 (8)

2. Tusculum 107 (4)

3. Anderson 98

4. Newberry 81

5. Queens 79

6. Lincoln Memorial 78

7. Catawba 69

8. Carson-Newman 46

9. Mars Hill 41

10. Coker 29