University of Tennessee Athletics
Lindl, Vols Earn Regional Awards
May 16, 2017 | Women's Tennis
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its regional awards on Monday evening, and the Tennessee women’s tennis team as well as senior Brittany Lindl were among the winners.
The Volunteers were selected as the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Community Service Award, and Lindl was named the region’s Most Improved Senior. Both are automatically eligible to be the national award winners, which will be announced on Tuesday, May 23.
Lindl earned the honor after posting her most productive season on Rocky Top during her senior campaign, claiming All-SEC Second Team honors and a bid to the NCAA Singles Championships. She cracked the rankings in singles and doubles for the first time in her career this season, peaking at 42nd and 52nd, respectively.
"I'm incredibly honored to have received this award,” Lindl said. “Part of our culture as a team is working hard to make improvements, big or small, every day at practice. As a team, we have put in a lot of work this year both on the court and with our fitness, and it has played a large role in the improvements that myself and the team have made this year."
After playing at the No. 4 or 5 spots as a junior, Lindl competed on Courts 1 and 2 spots for UT this season, compiling a career-high seven ranked wins in singles. She helped lead UT to its most wins in a season (19) and highest ranking (12th) since 2011 and captained the Vols to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.
“I'm so excited for Brittany that she has won the ITA Regional Most Improved Senior Award,” head coach Alison Ojeda said. “She truly has improved more than any senior I have ever seen. She has been incredibly open-minded to change, which is why she has grown so much. Brittany accepted the challenges of utilizing her lefty serve and forehand, getting extremely fit so she could move better on the court, and most importantly, learning how to be a mentally tougher competitor. I am very proud of Brittany and look forward to seeing her compete in the NCAA individual tournament.”
Tennessee won the regional community service award after totaling 93.5 hours of involvement and outreach in the community over the course of the year. UT hosted seven Little Smokeys Youth Clinics at Goodfriend Tennis Center, which involved collaboration with a variety of local groups, including USTA Tennessee, Knoxville Parks & Rec, and the Sean Karl Foundation.
The Vols worked with organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Love Kitchen and the Boys & Girls Club to help give back to the Knoxville community. In the midst of preparing for the NCAA Tournament, players even volunteered at Tennessee's SportsFest, which promotes inclusion of persons with disabilities in sports.
“Little Smokeys has positively affected our team, campus and local community over the last season,” Ojeda said. “Our team has benefited from having the program in more than one way. Our team has also matured as young women simply because they know they are role models to these young kids. Our team has taken ownership and pride in growing the sport that has given them so many privileges. This program also helped our campus get more involved in tennis. We have students at UT who volunteered to help with the program, so they were also actively involved in giving back to the community. Thanks to our involvement in the community, our team has loved playing in front of significantly larger crowds than what we are used to. Instead of having 50-100 fans in the seats, we had 200-250. We partnered with Babolat for our clinics, so when their kids came to two of the events, they get a free Babolat racket. It's an awesome opportunity, and we really appreciated Babolat helping us out to make that happen.”
Melissa Schaub, a former All-American for UT and sister of the Vols’ assistant coach Ty Schaub, was named the Midwest Regional Coach of the Year for the second year in a row as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Schaub played for Tennessee from 2002-05, notably winning 81 doubles matches during that time. She was a top-four seed in the NCAA doubles championships with Vilmarie Castellvi in 2003 and earned All-America and All-SEC honors that season.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee women's tennis program, follow @Vol_WTennis on Twitter.
