KNOXVILLE, Tn- The Royals men's tennis team ended their season at the AAC tournament and recorded a final record of 10-13. This is the first season where the Royals have finished with double digit wins and will look to build on this success going forward.
Winning their last four regular season matches, the Royals traveled to Chattanooga where they would fall to the eventual AAC champion, Tennessee Wesleyan, in the first round. The Royals wrap up the year with ten team victories and by winning 44% of individual matches, both the highest marks in program history.
The Royals were led by a number of players throughout the semester. The pair of Daniel Orahood and Jacob Keeling combined for 10 wins together for the most on the team, while Camden Jones, Gerett Benjamin, and Kaden Buchanan each added 8. In singles, the freshmen Keeling again led the way with 8 wins, playing between the 5 and the 3 positions. The Royals depth, however, was their main strength with every Royals player tallying at least 3 singles wins. Royals Cade Crowe, Gerett Benjamin, Daniel Orahood, and Stephen Damon were also all named members of the AAC All-Academic Team.
The Royals lone senior Stephen Damon wrapped up his career tied for 2nd on the All-Time singles win list and walked away contributing to more team wins than any player in Royals history. Stephen was named to the AAC Champions of Character Team for his calm demeanor, genuine care, and quiet leadership, intangibles that will definitely be missed going forward.
Coach Hale said, "I'm really proud of the hard work and resilience that this team showed all year as we faced the challenges of this first AAC year. We played some tough competition but it really prepped us for some of our non-conference matches where we were able to be really sharp. Even in some losses, players like Kaden and Gerett upped their levels to play their best tennis. Noah was a big pickup this semester and I think some of our growth was evident in the AAC tourney with our doubles play. Overall, I couldn't have been more proud of this team's effort and now we know what we have to do for next season. Finally, the year would not have been possible without all of the hours of work from Coach Mike and Coach Dalton as well as all of the support and training staff in the athletic department. We're going to miss Stephen who has contributed so much to the foundation of this program, but we have some exciting freshmen coming in who are going to keep building and making us better. I can't wait to get started!"
(credit to Kailyn Orahood Photography for this article's photo)
