Catawba Selected as Preseason Favorites in Men's Tennis
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The Catawba Indians have been picked as the 2026 South Atlantic Conference men's tennis preseason favorite, the league office announced today. Catawba received nine first-place votes from the conference's head men's tennis coaches and 130 total points.
The Indians went 21-3 a season ago and posted a perfect 12-0 conference mark. They advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and all three losses from last year came against teams ranked in the top 25. Catawba trailed Wingate 3-1 in the SAC Tournament Championship but stormed back to win the final three singles matches to claim the first SAC Tournament crown since 2001.
Wingate was voted in at No. 2 with three first-place votes and 124 total points, while Lincoln Memorial earned the No. 3 spot with 110 points.
Carson-Newman placed fourth in the poll with 96 points, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 5 with 85 points.
Tusculum and Anderson tied for sixth in the poll, each collecting 75 points. Coker came in at No. 8 with 67 points, while UVA Wise earned the No. 9 position with 61 points.
Newberry was voted 10th with 46 points, followed by Mars Hill at No. 11 with 31 points and Emory & Henry rounding out the poll at 12th with 24 points.
First serve for the 2026 men's tennis season will take place in early February. For a full schedule of matches, visit www.thesac.com.
2026 SAC Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll
| Rank | School (First Place Votes) | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catawba (9) | 130 |
| 2 | Wingate (3) | 124 |
| 3 | Lincoln Memorial | 110 |
| 4 | Carson-Newman | 96 |
| 5 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 85 |
| 6t | Tusculum | 75 |
| 6t | Anderson | 75 |
| 8 | Coker | 67 |
| 9 | UVA Wise | 61 |
| 10 | Newberry | 46 |
| 11 | Mars Hill | 31 |
| 12 | Emory & Henry | 24 |
2026 SAC Men's Tennis Preseason Players to Watch
Anderson: Mathis Collignon, Vicent Fenollar, Wynn Shioi
Catawba: Agustin Mastri, Santiago Passoni, Luca Bergonzi
Carson-Newman: Louis Keenan, Darko Kolevski, Leonard Baecker
Coker: Marcio Silve, Lukas Melone, Eduardo Pilia
Emory & Henry: Keenan Glago, Nathan Spurling, Bangalie Turay
Lenoir-Rhyne: Vadym Rogynsyi, Vitor Ferreira, Zeno Godi
Lincoln Memorial: Radu Florea, Alexandru Rares Giurea, Ethan Hirons
Mars Hill: Paul-Antoine Pelzer, Diell Mehmedi, Riccardo Moretti
Newberry: Senthen Reddy, Daniel Watson, Noel Bartz
Tusculum: Will Gee, Angus Howard, Rens Verhaar
UVA Wise: Mustafa Raja, Yi-Hsuan Chen, Miguel De Rueda
Wingate: Carlo Rosellini, Ruben LeBron, Rod De La Torre