MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Sunshine State Conference announced the 2024 All-SSC women’s tennis teams on Thursday afternoon. The Nova Southeastern Sharks Tennis program had three student-athletes – Natalie Espinal (First-Team), Freya Davies and Espinal (First-Team Doubles) and Lian Benedejcic (Second-Team) – honored, as well as Head Coach Doug Neagle being recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year.
Overall, 19 student-athletes were recognized by the Sunshine State Conference. Voting for the All-SSC teams was conducted among the league’s women’s tennis coaches.
Natalie Espinal becomes the first Sunshine State Conference women’s tennis player to be recognized with first-team honors five times (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and the fourth to earn four All-SSC first-team doubles (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) accolades in a career. Throughout her Nova Southeastern tennis career, Espinal has accumulated a record of 113-22 in singles action and a 106-16 in doubles, becoming the first Sharks women’s tennis player to surpass the 100-win threshold in both singles and doubles play. Espinal is also the third-ranked individual tennis player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and holds a World Tennis Number of 10.9. Espinal was also recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year and the 2021 SSC Athlete of the Year.
Freya Davies and Espinal form the second-rated tandem in the ITA poll and have accumulated a record of 18-3 throughout the 2023-24 season. The duo won the 2023 ITA Doubles National Championship, the third ITA Cup title in Espinal’s career.
Lian Benedejcic holds an 18-2 record during the 2023-24 season and helped guide the Sharks to the top-ranking in NCAA Division II.
Head Coach Doug Neagle has been recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. Neagle has guided the Sharks to a 21-4 record during the 2024 season, reaching the top-ranking in the ITA Coaches’ Poll. Neagle was also recognized by the league in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
No. 2 Nova Southeastern awaits the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 6th, at 8:30 p.m. To stay up-to-date on Sharks Women’s Tennis, be sure to follow on Instagram and X at NSU_WTennis.
