Rock Hill, S.C. — Both Catawba College men's and women's tennis teams were voted atop the South Atlantic Conference Men's and Women's Tennis preseason coaches poll, the league office announced Wednesday morning.
The reigning SAC champion men received nine first-place votes for a total of 130 points, ahead of the Wingate men who received the remaining three first-place votes with 124 points. Lincoln Memorial, Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne rounded out the top five,
On the women's side, the reigning SAC champion Catawba women received 10 first-place votes for a total of 131 points, while the Wingate women notched the two first-place votes available with a total of 122 points. Carson-Newman, Newberry and Coker were the other teams voted inside the top five.
On the men's side, Agustin Mastri, Luca Bergonzi and Santiago Passoni were named Players to Watch. Mastri, the 2025 SAC Player of the Year as a freshman, returns to the Catawba men who swept the regular season and SAC Tournament titles a season ago.
Bergonzi was named All-Conference a season ago in both singles and doubles play, while Bergonzi and Mastri combined to take the ITA Southeast Regional crown this past fall in doubles play.
Passoni joins the men's team after a successful stint at Lindsey Wilson University.
On the women's side, Sofia Antolini, Ami Miya and Hanna Bougouffa were named Players to Watch for the Catawba Indians who swept the SAC regular season and tournament titles, capturing their second consecutive tournament crown.
Antolini, the reigning SAC Player of the Year on the women's side returns from a strong season as the top-ranked singles player in the spring of 2025, while notching the ITA Southeast Regional title this fall in singles play before quarterfinal appearance in the ITA Cup.
Miya is a three-time All-SAC performer and enters her fourth season with the program as one of the most decorated student-athletes in program history. She and doubles partner Lili Drukerova won the Southeast Region title in doubles in the fall on their way to the ITA Cup, completing the Catawba sweep on the women's side at the ITA Regionals.
Bougouffa was named a Player to Watch as a talented freshman hailing from France.
The Catawba women will get their season kicked off first in February, facing Gardner-Webb in a women's-only match on Feb. 7. Both teams will take the court together for the first time on Feb. 14 at home versus Converse.
