TIGERS READY TO LAUNCH FALL SEASON
2017 Newsletter - May
TENNIS
Mizzou Tennis welcomes new AD Mack Rhoades, introduces incoming freshman Turner Yates & much more...
TIGERS READY TO LAUNCH FALL SEASON
@MIZZOUTENNIS
TENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
HEAR FROM COACH GASTON Dear Mizzou Tennis community, I want to thank you all for your continued support for our tennis program here at Mizzou. It means so much to the team and I to have such a great crowd at each of our home matches throughout the season. Recapping the year, we started off very strong in the first two weeks of conference. Our win against Texas A&M was the highest ranked opponent we have beaten in school history and to follow that up two days later having match points to win against LSU before losing a close 4-3 battle really set the tone that we were a new team this year. After facing an injury in week three and losing one of our top players for the season, we faced tremendous adversity and didn’t quite recover from it in the upcoming weeks. However, I was very proud of the girls for not giving up and fighting for every point in every match giving it everything they had throughout the rest of the season. We achieved a high ranking this year of #31 as a team and to finish out our conference winning against a very good Alabama team really shows a lot about the fight and determination of the girls. Currently we have a top 10 doubles team in the country with Beatriz Santos and Amina Ismail ranked #10. This is the second highest doubles ranking we have ever had in the history of this program. We also have a singles player in the rankings as Beatriz is currently at #69. Bea has been ranked as high as #36 this season in singles and will be an alternate to make the NCAA singles tournament this year. She will find out if she makes it when we go for the doubles tournament in a couple of weeks. Although I wasn’t satisfied with our record this year as a team, I felt that we made great strides in building towards our overall goal and we will continue to raise the bar and work harder than we ever have this summer to hopefully make next year one of the best yet! I am really going to miss our seniors that will be leaving us. Beatriz Santos has come into this program and taken it to new levels. Her run into the NCAA singles tournament last year was truly something special. To see a young lady not know if she could win matches at the top spot at the start of the season last year to being very confident and taking down top 10 opponents was something special for our team to see. Her belief in her coaches, teammates and herself is something I know will help her be very successful in life after college. Although she is not done yet and has the doubles tournament coming up Beatriz has left her mark in Mizzou tennis history and set the tone for what’s to come. I am very grateful for her dedication to me and this program and look forward to seeing her be very successful after college. Cassidy Spearman was a great leader for us this year. She not only came up with some huge wins in conference for us but she also excelled off the court as well. Cass is the type of student-athlete we dream of having as coaches. Her work ethic, commitment, professionalism and character as a person is the best of the best. Many times in matches this year she would be down and out but refused to give up. She loved the battle on court and the challenge that came with it. Cass would come into my office consistently wanting to know how to be the best and achieve greatness and as a coach it always motivated me every day to have kids like that. Although she achieved many great things individually in her career she always put the team first in whatever she did, she has one of the biggest hearts and Cassidy will always be remembered here at Mizzou! Kadi Fauble is another senior that was an amazing story for us. She was on the club team at the beginning of last year before getting a call from us about playing for our team. It was such a special day for me to see her put the Mizzou tennis clothing on and see a huge smile on her face. Sometimes as athletes we forget what a privilege it is to be here and play in this conference. Not Kadi, she brought that appreciation back and really kept the girls humble. That sense of pride and pure joy from a student-athlete is really something special to see. Kadi came in with a superb work ethic. She had great charisma, fight and a sense of sassiness about her that was fun to watch on court. I am very thankful for her dedication to me and this program and I look forward to seeing her do great things in life after college! I also want to acknowledge my new assistant coach Jennifer Meredith, who came in and did a phenomenal job this year. She not only helped me hold the girls to a high standard in practice everyday but most importantly she made it fun for all of us! Being constructive and staying positive in the SEC is not always the easiest thing as it is one of the strongest conferences in college tennis. Jen was very good at helping me keep the girls motivated and hungry during the toughest times and continued to raise the bar with recruiting and overall level of our program. Her work ethic is one of the best and we are very fortunate to have her here at Mizzou! To finish up the season Jen and myself will be taking the girls to the NCAA doubles tournament in Athens, Georgia on May 24. I know Beatriz and Amina are looking to capitalize on this opportunity and want to make the Mizzou Tennis community proud. It is a goal of mine to consistently make the post season every year and establish ourselves as one of the best tennis programs in the country moving forward. I know this will take time and we have been working extremely hard the past couple of weeks to get Amina and Beatriz ready. We hope you will follow us during the tournament and want to thank you again for your support. We are looking forward to finishing the overall season strong!
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
TENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
31 17
MIZZOU TENNIS BY THE NUMBERS Mizzou was ranked as high as No. 31 during the 2016-17 campaign, its highest team ranking since the 2002-03 season.
100
Mizzou saw three Tigers this season enter the 100win club as seniors Bea Machado Santos and Cassidy Spearman and junior Amina Ismail all surpassed 100 combined singles and doubles wins.
219
Mizzou’s highest attendance this season was 219 fans at the big win over Texas A&M in March. Mizzou welcomed more than 100 loyal fans to every single home match during the spring, providing an electric atmosphere that our team fed off day in and day out.
On March 10, Mizzou knocked off No. 17 Texas A&M in a wild 4-3 victory. It was the highest ranked opponent Mizzou has beaten in program history. Seniors Bea Santos and Cassidy Spearman both picked up huge wins at No. 2 and No. 3 while freshman Tate Schroeder outlasted her opponent in three sets to give the Tigers three points. The Aggies won the doubles point and grabbed wins at No. 1 and No. 5 singles to set up a winner-take-all match at No. 6. Freshman Mackenzy Middlebrooks a.k.a. “#ClutchKenz” delivered a thrilling 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory to seal history for Mizzou.
DOUBLES DOMINANCE BEA MACHADO SANTOS AND PARTNER AMINA ISMAIL FINISHED THE REGULAR SEASON RANKED NO. 10 IN THE NATION, THE DUO’S HIGHEST RANKING THIS SEASON! SANTOS AND ISMAIL ARE MIZZOU’S HIGHEST RANKED DUO SINCE 2003. THE PAIRING WON SIX OF ITS FINAL SEVEN FINISHED MATCHES AND HAVE JUST THREE TOTAL LOSSES TOGETHER SINCE JAN. 30.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
WELCOME CLASS OF 2017 SIGNEE MARTA OLIVEIRA
Meet Volunteer Asst. Majorie Muller
Marta Oliveira, a native of Lisbon, Portugal, has been ranked as high No. 204 in the International Tennis Federation Junior World Rankings and No. 994 professionally in the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings. As an amateur, Oliveira won the Cantanhede Ladies Open, an official $10,000 ITF pro circuit tournament, in 2016. She also racked up 12 ITF doubles titles on the junior circuit and was a semifinalist in three ITF junior singles tournaments. Oliveira is one of the top talents in Portugal in her age group. She was ranked No. 1 in the country in the U18 rankings, captured U12 and U14 national singles championships and was a U16 national finalist. Oliveira added national doubles championships at all age levels. Oliveira plans to study health sciences at Mizzou and pursue a career in physiotherapy after her tennis career concludes. @MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
PHENOMENAL FRESHMEN • Mizzou Tennis freshmen Tate Schroeder and Mackenzy Middlebrooks boasted 53 combined wins in their initial collegiate campaigns. • Schroeder posted a team-high 17 wins in 2016-17, going 13-3 overall and 5-2 in SEC play when playing at No. 3 or No. 4 singles. • Middlebrooks collected five SEC wins and secured match-clinching victories for Mizzou three times, most notably against No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 33 Alabama.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
2017 SEASON RECAP January
We began the new year by playing in the ITA Kick-Off Classic in Berkeley, California. We played Old Dominion first where we notched a 4-1 win with the clinching match coming from freshman Tate Schroeder. We later lost to the number 8 team, California, but it was good to get some high-level play in before the SEC season.
February
On the way back from California, we made a stop in Utah where we posted wins over Utah State and BYU. The next week we played a host of teams from the heartland that included K-State, UMKC, and Wichita State. After a pair of wins we couldn’t quite keep the momentum going to beat Wichita State. We did see some awesome play by our transfer Amina Ismail who clinched the doubles point in a tiebreaker with freshman Mackenzy Middlebrooks and followed up with a singles win at the 5 spot. The following week we went to Minneapolis where we scored a trio of wins against Minnesota, Memphis, and South Dakota. After being on the road for the first 10 matches of the year, we were excited to return home and play in front of our home crowd. We ended the month with a home match win over Louisiana Tech to cap off our non-conference season and give us a record of 9-2 heading into conference play.
March
We played our first SEC match of the season in Arkansas where we lost a tight 4-3 match against the number 18 team in the country. After going down 0-3, we put up a huge fight to tie things up at 3 a piece, including a win over a ranked opponent for Bea and straight set wins for our freshman Tate and Mackenzy. We bounced back the following weekend with the biggest win in our program’s history over number 17 Texas A&M. This was an intense match that included four huge singles wins: at the three spot Cass notched a win to put her at 100 career wins, Tate came back to win her court in three sets, a win over a ranked opponent for Bea, and a come from behind 3 set win for Mackenzy to clinch (her second time clinching this season!). That same weekend we played another tight match losing 4-3 to number 29 LSU. We saw some more stellar singles play that included wins over ranked opponents for both Bea and Cass, Cass’ first such win of the season. The next weekend we took off to Mississippi to play a couple more ranked teams, number 42 Mississippi State and number 25 Ole Miss. These were two tough matches that we ended up losing, but one highlight was that Bea and Amina took a win off the number 33 ranked doubles pairing in the country. We wrapped up March with three more matches against Top 25 teams, including No. 24 South Carolina, No. 1 Florida and eventual SEC champion No. 5 Vanderbilt. Despite falling in all three matches as a team, Bea and Amina collected up two more ranked wins, including one over Florida’s ninth-ranked pairing. Tate also added two more singles wins at the No. 3 spot, defeating South Carolina’s Paige Cline and Vanderbilt’s Emma Kurtz. Off the court, we did manage to have a little fun too. We hosted one of our highest attended events, Tastes and Tunes. There was great turnout from the local tennis community and a great showing by the local band Flyover Country, led by MTC’s very own Steve Watts!
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
2017 SEASON RECAP April
In our final home matches of the season, we hosted No. 24 Tennessee and No. 2 Georgia on Senior Day. Against the Volunteers, Amina and Bea picked up their fourth consecutive win as a pairing in conference play with a 6-1 victory. Both of them added singles wins, with Bea outlasting No. 58 Brittany Lindl in a three-set seesaw battle, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Amina and Clare collected their first singles victories of SEC play with wins at No. 5 and No. 6, but Tennessee prevailed 4-3 in a hard-fought contest. Two days later, we welcomed the No. 2 Bulldogs to the Mizzou Tennis Complex for the home finale. Before the match, we honored our three incredible seniors and their families with a prematch ceremony. Bea and Cass both ended their careers with 100 combined singles and doubles. Senior Kadi Fauble, who joined the program last spring, was honored at Mizzou Athletics’ ROARS awards program with the “For the Love of the Game Award.” The seniors all accomplished outstanding things at Mizzou and are poised to have incredible careers as they leave Columbia after graduation in May. We weren’t done yet though, and we made sure to close out the regular season in style. In the final match of the regular season, we beat No. 33 Alabama to secure our second SEC win of the campaign. After we claimed the doubles point with wins from Cass and Mackenzy & Clare and Tate, Bea grabbed a huge win over No. 15 Erin Routliffe. It was the second-highest ranked opponent Bea has beaten in her career. Amina gave us a third point with a three-set win at No. 5 and Mackenzy came through in the clutch again with a three-set victory at No. 4 to seal a big 4-3 win for Mizzou! The spring season ended with a 4-2 defeat to Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament, but Amina and Bea have a cinched a spot in the NCAA Doubles Tournament. The field is announced on May 3. It givea Mizzou its first pairing in the doubles tournament since 2003 when Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova received a bid.
COMPLIANCE CORNER
Throughout your time at the MTC, you may have the opportunity to get to know some of our wonderful student-athletes. As a MTC or Aces Member, you are categorized by the NCAA as a representative of athletics interest, or Booster. While your relationships with our student-athletes may grow to a point where you would like to provide them with gifts or other benefits, NCAA rules prohibit boosters from providing any extra benefits to our student-athletes. There is one area of leeway in these rules, provided the proper procedures are followed. If you would like to invite a student-athlete to your home for a meal, or bring a student-athlete a meal at the MTC, this would be allowed, as long as the event is approved by the Coach, and the Compliance Office beforehand, is hosted at the boosters house, an athletics facility, or a location on Mizzou’s campus, and the meal is on an infrequent basis and for a special occasion. As an example, once you have completed the proper form and have the meal approved, you could invite a student-athlete to your home for your famous pot-roast to celebrate the students birthday, or have the meal catered and save yourself from slaving over a hot stove. Similarly, you could bring in tacos for the team to eat at the MTC to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. While our coaches would be permitted to take the team out to D. Rowes for an occasional meal, a booster does not have the same flexibility. All occasional meals must be preapproved by the Compliance Office. If you are interested in hosting a student-athlete for an occasional meal, please contact the Compliance Office at 573-882-2076.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
No. 10 DOUBLES DUO IN THE NATION NCAA DOUBLES TOURNAMENT BOUND
Junior Amina Ismail Maineville, Ohio
Senior Bea Machado Santos Lisbon, Portugal
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
TENNIS
Mizzou Tennis welcomes new AD Mack Rhoades, introduces incoming freshman Turner Yates & much more...
TIGERS READY TO LAUNCH FALL SEASON
@MIZZOUTENNIS
TENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
HEAR FROM COACH GASTON Dear Mizzou Tennis community, I want to thank you all for your continued support for our tennis program here at Mizzou. It means so much to the team and I to have such a great crowd at each of our home matches throughout the season. Recapping the year, we started off very strong in the first two weeks of conference. Our win against Texas A&M was the highest ranked opponent we have beaten in school history and to follow that up two days later having match points to win against LSU before losing a close 4-3 battle really set the tone that we were a new team this year. After facing an injury in week three and losing one of our top players for the season, we faced tremendous adversity and didn’t quite recover from it in the upcoming weeks. However, I was very proud of the girls for not giving up and fighting for every point in every match giving it everything they had throughout the rest of the season. We achieved a high ranking this year of #31 as a team and to finish out our conference winning against a very good Alabama team really shows a lot about the fight and determination of the girls. Currently we have a top 10 doubles team in the country with Beatriz Santos and Amina Ismail ranked #10. This is the second highest doubles ranking we have ever had in the history of this program. We also have a singles player in the rankings as Beatriz is currently at #69. Bea has been ranked as high as #36 this season in singles and will be an alternate to make the NCAA singles tournament this year. She will find out if she makes it when we go for the doubles tournament in a couple of weeks. Although I wasn’t satisfied with our record this year as a team, I felt that we made great strides in building towards our overall goal and we will continue to raise the bar and work harder than we ever have this summer to hopefully make next year one of the best yet! I am really going to miss our seniors that will be leaving us. Beatriz Santos has come into this program and taken it to new levels. Her run into the NCAA singles tournament last year was truly something special. To see a young lady not know if she could win matches at the top spot at the start of the season last year to being very confident and taking down top 10 opponents was something special for our team to see. Her belief in her coaches, teammates and herself is something I know will help her be very successful in life after college. Although she is not done yet and has the doubles tournament coming up Beatriz has left her mark in Mizzou tennis history and set the tone for what’s to come. I am very grateful for her dedication to me and this program and look forward to seeing her be very successful after college. Cassidy Spearman was a great leader for us this year. She not only came up with some huge wins in conference for us but she also excelled off the court as well. Cass is the type of student-athlete we dream of having as coaches. Her work ethic, commitment, professionalism and character as a person is the best of the best. Many times in matches this year she would be down and out but refused to give up. She loved the battle on court and the challenge that came with it. Cass would come into my office consistently wanting to know how to be the best and achieve greatness and as a coach it always motivated me every day to have kids like that. Although she achieved many great things individually in her career she always put the team first in whatever she did, she has one of the biggest hearts and Cassidy will always be remembered here at Mizzou! Kadi Fauble is another senior that was an amazing story for us. She was on the club team at the beginning of last year before getting a call from us about playing for our team. It was such a special day for me to see her put the Mizzou tennis clothing on and see a huge smile on her face. Sometimes as athletes we forget what a privilege it is to be here and play in this conference. Not Kadi, she brought that appreciation back and really kept the girls humble. That sense of pride and pure joy from a student-athlete is really something special to see. Kadi came in with a superb work ethic. She had great charisma, fight and a sense of sassiness about her that was fun to watch on court. I am very thankful for her dedication to me and this program and I look forward to seeing her do great things in life after college! I also want to acknowledge my new assistant coach Jennifer Meredith, who came in and did a phenomenal job this year. She not only helped me hold the girls to a high standard in practice everyday but most importantly she made it fun for all of us! Being constructive and staying positive in the SEC is not always the easiest thing as it is one of the strongest conferences in college tennis. Jen was very good at helping me keep the girls motivated and hungry during the toughest times and continued to raise the bar with recruiting and overall level of our program. Her work ethic is one of the best and we are very fortunate to have her here at Mizzou! To finish up the season Jen and myself will be taking the girls to the NCAA doubles tournament in Athens, Georgia on May 24. I know Beatriz and Amina are looking to capitalize on this opportunity and want to make the Mizzou Tennis community proud. It is a goal of mine to consistently make the post season every year and establish ourselves as one of the best tennis programs in the country moving forward. I know this will take time and we have been working extremely hard the past couple of weeks to get Amina and Beatriz ready. We hope you will follow us during the tournament and want to thank you again for your support. We are looking forward to finishing the overall season strong!
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
TENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
31 17
MIZZOU TENNIS BY THE NUMBERS Mizzou was ranked as high as No. 31 during the 2016-17 campaign, its highest team ranking since the 2002-03 season.
100
Mizzou saw three Tigers this season enter the 100win club as seniors Bea Machado Santos and Cassidy Spearman and junior Amina Ismail all surpassed 100 combined singles and doubles wins.
219
Mizzou’s highest attendance this season was 219 fans at the big win over Texas A&M in March. Mizzou welcomed more than 100 loyal fans to every single home match during the spring, providing an electric atmosphere that our team fed off day in and day out.
On March 10, Mizzou knocked off No. 17 Texas A&M in a wild 4-3 victory. It was the highest ranked opponent Mizzou has beaten in program history. Seniors Bea Santos and Cassidy Spearman both picked up huge wins at No. 2 and No. 3 while freshman Tate Schroeder outlasted her opponent in three sets to give the Tigers three points. The Aggies won the doubles point and grabbed wins at No. 1 and No. 5 singles to set up a winner-take-all match at No. 6. Freshman Mackenzy Middlebrooks a.k.a. “#ClutchKenz” delivered a thrilling 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory to seal history for Mizzou.
DOUBLES DOMINANCE BEA MACHADO SANTOS AND PARTNER AMINA ISMAIL FINISHED THE REGULAR SEASON RANKED NO. 10 IN THE NATION, THE DUO’S HIGHEST RANKING THIS SEASON! SANTOS AND ISMAIL ARE MIZZOU’S HIGHEST RANKED DUO SINCE 2003. THE PAIRING WON SIX OF ITS FINAL SEVEN FINISHED MATCHES AND HAVE JUST THREE TOTAL LOSSES TOGETHER SINCE JAN. 30.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
WELCOME CLASS OF 2017 SIGNEE MARTA OLIVEIRA
Meet Volunteer Asst. Majorie Muller
Marta Oliveira, a native of Lisbon, Portugal, has been ranked as high No. 204 in the International Tennis Federation Junior World Rankings and No. 994 professionally in the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings. As an amateur, Oliveira won the Cantanhede Ladies Open, an official $10,000 ITF pro circuit tournament, in 2016. She also racked up 12 ITF doubles titles on the junior circuit and was a semifinalist in three ITF junior singles tournaments. Oliveira is one of the top talents in Portugal in her age group. She was ranked No. 1 in the country in the U18 rankings, captured U12 and U14 national singles championships and was a U16 national finalist. Oliveira added national doubles championships at all age levels. Oliveira plans to study health sciences at Mizzou and pursue a career in physiotherapy after her tennis career concludes. @MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
PHENOMENAL FRESHMEN • Mizzou Tennis freshmen Tate Schroeder and Mackenzy Middlebrooks boasted 53 combined wins in their initial collegiate campaigns. • Schroeder posted a team-high 17 wins in 2016-17, going 13-3 overall and 5-2 in SEC play when playing at No. 3 or No. 4 singles. • Middlebrooks collected five SEC wins and secured match-clinching victories for Mizzou three times, most notably against No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 33 Alabama.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
2017 SEASON RECAP January
We began the new year by playing in the ITA Kick-Off Classic in Berkeley, California. We played Old Dominion first where we notched a 4-1 win with the clinching match coming from freshman Tate Schroeder. We later lost to the number 8 team, California, but it was good to get some high-level play in before the SEC season.
February
On the way back from California, we made a stop in Utah where we posted wins over Utah State and BYU. The next week we played a host of teams from the heartland that included K-State, UMKC, and Wichita State. After a pair of wins we couldn’t quite keep the momentum going to beat Wichita State. We did see some awesome play by our transfer Amina Ismail who clinched the doubles point in a tiebreaker with freshman Mackenzy Middlebrooks and followed up with a singles win at the 5 spot. The following week we went to Minneapolis where we scored a trio of wins against Minnesota, Memphis, and South Dakota. After being on the road for the first 10 matches of the year, we were excited to return home and play in front of our home crowd. We ended the month with a home match win over Louisiana Tech to cap off our non-conference season and give us a record of 9-2 heading into conference play.
March
We played our first SEC match of the season in Arkansas where we lost a tight 4-3 match against the number 18 team in the country. After going down 0-3, we put up a huge fight to tie things up at 3 a piece, including a win over a ranked opponent for Bea and straight set wins for our freshman Tate and Mackenzy. We bounced back the following weekend with the biggest win in our program’s history over number 17 Texas A&M. This was an intense match that included four huge singles wins: at the three spot Cass notched a win to put her at 100 career wins, Tate came back to win her court in three sets, a win over a ranked opponent for Bea, and a come from behind 3 set win for Mackenzy to clinch (her second time clinching this season!). That same weekend we played another tight match losing 4-3 to number 29 LSU. We saw some more stellar singles play that included wins over ranked opponents for both Bea and Cass, Cass’ first such win of the season. The next weekend we took off to Mississippi to play a couple more ranked teams, number 42 Mississippi State and number 25 Ole Miss. These were two tough matches that we ended up losing, but one highlight was that Bea and Amina took a win off the number 33 ranked doubles pairing in the country. We wrapped up March with three more matches against Top 25 teams, including No. 24 South Carolina, No. 1 Florida and eventual SEC champion No. 5 Vanderbilt. Despite falling in all three matches as a team, Bea and Amina collected up two more ranked wins, including one over Florida’s ninth-ranked pairing. Tate also added two more singles wins at the No. 3 spot, defeating South Carolina’s Paige Cline and Vanderbilt’s Emma Kurtz. Off the court, we did manage to have a little fun too. We hosted one of our highest attended events, Tastes and Tunes. There was great turnout from the local tennis community and a great showing by the local band Flyover Country, led by MTC’s very own Steve Watts!
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
2017 SEASON RECAP April
In our final home matches of the season, we hosted No. 24 Tennessee and No. 2 Georgia on Senior Day. Against the Volunteers, Amina and Bea picked up their fourth consecutive win as a pairing in conference play with a 6-1 victory. Both of them added singles wins, with Bea outlasting No. 58 Brittany Lindl in a three-set seesaw battle, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Amina and Clare collected their first singles victories of SEC play with wins at No. 5 and No. 6, but Tennessee prevailed 4-3 in a hard-fought contest. Two days later, we welcomed the No. 2 Bulldogs to the Mizzou Tennis Complex for the home finale. Before the match, we honored our three incredible seniors and their families with a prematch ceremony. Bea and Cass both ended their careers with 100 combined singles and doubles. Senior Kadi Fauble, who joined the program last spring, was honored at Mizzou Athletics’ ROARS awards program with the “For the Love of the Game Award.” The seniors all accomplished outstanding things at Mizzou and are poised to have incredible careers as they leave Columbia after graduation in May. We weren’t done yet though, and we made sure to close out the regular season in style. In the final match of the regular season, we beat No. 33 Alabama to secure our second SEC win of the campaign. After we claimed the doubles point with wins from Cass and Mackenzy & Clare and Tate, Bea grabbed a huge win over No. 15 Erin Routliffe. It was the second-highest ranked opponent Bea has beaten in her career. Amina gave us a third point with a three-set win at No. 5 and Mackenzy came through in the clutch again with a three-set victory at No. 4 to seal a big 4-3 win for Mizzou! The spring season ended with a 4-2 defeat to Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament, but Amina and Bea have a cinched a spot in the NCAA Doubles Tournament. The field is announced on May 3. It givea Mizzou its first pairing in the doubles tournament since 2003 when Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova received a bid.
COMPLIANCE CORNER
Throughout your time at the MTC, you may have the opportunity to get to know some of our wonderful student-athletes. As a MTC or Aces Member, you are categorized by the NCAA as a representative of athletics interest, or Booster. While your relationships with our student-athletes may grow to a point where you would like to provide them with gifts or other benefits, NCAA rules prohibit boosters from providing any extra benefits to our student-athletes. There is one area of leeway in these rules, provided the proper procedures are followed. If you would like to invite a student-athlete to your home for a meal, or bring a student-athlete a meal at the MTC, this would be allowed, as long as the event is approved by the Coach, and the Compliance Office beforehand, is hosted at the boosters house, an athletics facility, or a location on Mizzou’s campus, and the meal is on an infrequent basis and for a special occasion. As an example, once you have completed the proper form and have the meal approved, you could invite a student-athlete to your home for your famous pot-roast to celebrate the students birthday, or have the meal catered and save yourself from slaving over a hot stove. Similarly, you could bring in tacos for the team to eat at the MTC to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. While our coaches would be permitted to take the team out to D. Rowes for an occasional meal, a booster does not have the same flexibility. All occasional meals must be preapproved by the Compliance Office. If you are interested in hosting a student-athlete for an occasional meal, please contact the Compliance Office at 573-882-2076.
Facebook.com/MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
MUTigers.com
@MIZZOUTENNIS
W W W. M U T I G E R S . C O M
TENNIS
No. 10 DOUBLES DUO IN THE NATION NCAA DOUBLES TOURNAMENT BOUND
Junior Amina Ismail Maineville, Ohio
Senior Bea Machado Santos Lisbon, Portugal
@MizzouTennis
2017 Newsletter - May Edition
#ShowMe
