Islanders Tennis Earns Nine All-Conference Selections, McKenzie Newcomer of the Year, Moore Coach of the Year

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The postseason awards piled up for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tennis programs as they combined for nine All-Conference selections. Junior Naomi Moi McKenzie was named the women's Newcomer of the Year and Steve Moore was voted the women's Coach of the Year.
 
The men landed five All-Conference honorees. It included senior Pascal Lorieul and junior Avery Zavala on the First-Team at No. 1 doubles, and seniors Nathan Schwartz, Matthieu Peres and Ulysse Bertrand on the Second-Team singles at No. 3, 4, and 6, respectively.


 
The women placed four on the All-Conference Teams. Junior Valeria Cherfus was All-Conference First-Team in both singles and doubles with junior Kateryna Rublevska. McKenzie was All-Conference First-Team at No. 2 singles as well as Newcomer of the Year, and senior Victoire Delattre was First-Team at No. 5 singles. Cherfus and Delattre were both 7-0 SLC in singles.


 
"We are incredibly proud of these high character, hard working Islanders. These awards were earned with hard work, sacrifice and discipline. If there's one thing that stands out to me it's that this group is really a family and a true team, and this was always an environment of exuberance and encouragement. They always had each other's backs and the bond, closeness and team unity of these Islanders was truly special. I think they look forward to being with each other every day and they pushed each other to be their best," Moore said.
 
McKenzie posted a 13-6 record and 6-1 in conference at No. 2 singles. She's the third Islanders women's tennis player to win Newcomer of the Year after Kei Kato won in 2019 and Hortense Boscher in 2016. Islanders Tennis has won six Newcomer of the Years total as Jeremy Blandin (2004), Nathan Robinson (2010) and Aurelien Tave (2011) won on the men's side.
 


Moore becomes a 13-time SLC Coach of the Year winner, the most in the history of the league for any sport. He coached the women's team to an undefeated 7-0 SLC record and 22-2 overall. Non-conference wins this year included New Mexico State, UTEP, Sam Houston, Abilene Christian and UTRGV twice.


 
The conference tournaments begin Thursday as the men earned the No. 3 seed and play at 6 p.m. against sixth-seeded Nicholls. The top-seeded and regular season champion women's team earned a first round bye and will play Friday at 10 a.m. against the winner of No. 8 Bryant and No. 9 Nicholls.
 
The men will be playing for their 22nd championship and 10th SLC Tournament title, while the women are going for their 11th championship, sixth SLC Tournament title and third in a row. The two programs have won 31 championships overall and six in the last three seasons.
 
Click here to view the men's full SLC postseason awards, click here for the women's.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 14 NCAA Tournaments
- 31 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 39 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
 
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