Men's Tennis

Men´s Tennis Notches Strong Win

SAN ANTONIO — Back in San Antonio but not quite at home after three matches on the road, the Rattlers experienced a two–day split this week, losing to Oucahita Baptist University Sunday and coming out victorious over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Monday.

Competing on the Incarnate Word tennis courts, St. Mary’s (3–9, 2–1 in conference) first day saw a lone point in the 8–1 loss to Oucahita Baptist with senior Marcin Marczewski (Warsaw, Poland) defeating Helge Knuth in a 6–3, 6–2 win.

Although Marczewski was the solo point for St. Mary’s on Sunday, it wouldn’t be his only win of the two–day affair as he would go undefeated in all his other matches. Marczewski’s doubles partner Jake Williams (Sr., Dallas) went the distance in his singles match, coming up just short in a 4–6, 6–2, 10–8 loss. The pair competed together to give Knuth and Marvin Muller a run for the point in an 8–5 defeat.

Revved up after the loss, the Rattlers came out strong Monday against Southeastern Oklahoma State. Marczewski led the way with a close 7–6 first set and a smashing 6–1 second set to earn a Rattler point in the 5–2 victory.

Teaming up this time with fellow Rattler Andrej Klipa (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia) on the doubles court didn’t skip a beat in Marczewski’s undefeated trek as they battled for a 9–8 (7–5) win. Klipa also won his singles match in a statement–making 6–0 final set.

Williams went an impressive three sets, 4–6, 6–2, 1–0, before the match was unable to finish, but it was enough to earn another tally for the Rattlers. Reigning Heartland Conference Player of the Week Carlos Olea’s (So., Matamoros, Mexico) singles match told a similar story, swinging through three sets of 3–6, 6–1, 1–1 before the match was called and put Olea in the winner’s circle. Despite Williams and Olea being unable to finish their singles’ matches completely, the duo wasn’t phased as they paired up to defeat Joad and Hansen 8–5 on the doubles court.

Freshman Michael Ortiz (Corpus Christi, Texas) also made waves for St. Mary’s, defeating Burns 7–5, 6–1 in singles.

Seeing both sides of the coin their last two matches hopefully will give the Rattlers enough to work with before their next match against conference foe University of Texas–Permian Basin. St. Mary’s currently holds the No. 1 rank in the conference standings after defeating the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith and shutting out Dallas Baptist last weekend. The Rattlers will face the Falcons on their home court Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

St. Mary’s University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men’s basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men’s golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men’s golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary’s also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary’s student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.stmarytx.edu/athletics.

    

Coaching Staff

Head Coach Lisa Dausin

Lisa Dausin took over the St. Mary's tennis program last season after spending the past 31 years moving up the ranks in the Northside Independent School District. And she wasted no time in making her impact felt on the Rattlers.

As the head coach for both the St. Mary's men's and women's tennis teams, Dausin found success through each. The 2011-12 season saw one of its best in program history from the men, as their 10-15 record earned them their first national ranking, topping off at No. 50. Under the first-year coach, the Rattlers also earned a program-first with a regional ranking as high as No. 10.

Through the season, the Rattlers battled nationally and regionally ranked competitors, Dausin's plan for prepping them for Heartland Conference play. Her plan worked perfectly as the Rattlers boasted the best record against conference competitors (4-1) and entered the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed. The men's tennis team charged the competition in conference, taking home four out of the six Heartland Conference Player of the Week awards. In her first year as head coach, Dausin saw four players make the All-Conference Team, including one of the most decorated players in recent history, senior Marcin Marczewski.

A native of Warsaw, Poland, Marczewski adapted to St. Mary's tennis and the Texas culture quite nicely, saving his best year for his last. Marczewski earned two Player of the Week awards as well as a spot on the All-Conference Team with an overall individual record of 14-8 and overall doubles record of 11-5. Dausin saw her first Conference Outstanding Senior award through Marczewski's success.

Dausin will lose Marczewski as well as seniors Jake Williams, who also made the All-Conference Team, and Nestor Moreno. But she will head into her second season on the heels of the program's best year in recent memory.

Before taking over as head coach for St. Mary's, Dausin served for 12 years as the Assistant Athletics Director for Northside ISD before returning to teaching this past school year, when she taught at Warren High School in San Antonio and coached middle-school tennis.

The first female hired in the school district's athletics office, Dausin served as an extension of the athletics director, overseeing the hiring of coaches and doing legal work pertaining to athletics personnel, among other duties.

At St. Mary's, she will look to build upon the foundation laid last season, when the men went 5-14 and the women 5-16.

Before moving into the athletics office at Northside ISD, she worked at Marshall High School, coaching tennis and assisting other sports from 1980-1994. In 1995, she became the school's Girls Coordinator.

A St. Mary's graduate, Dausin has always had tennis in her blood. She played tennis, basketball and softball at St. Mary's. She graduated in 1979 with an education degree with a teacher's certification, and went on to get her master's degree in education at Southwest Texas State in 1983. She later completed her coursework for another master's degree in counseling at Texas-San Antonio in 1998.

Born in Del Rio, she spent much of her childhood in San Antonio, graduating from McCollum High School. Dausin is married to Bryan, a football coach at Warren High School. They have two sons, Ross and Rex.

Assistant Coach Stephan Poole

Stephan Poole stepped in as St. Mary's assistant tennis coach last season, becoming head coach Lisa Dausin's right-hand man.

Poole joined the St. Mary's coaching staff with experience, playing tennis throughout and after high school. An alum of John Marshall High School in San Antonio, Poole made his way around the court, placing fourth in regionals for singles his junior year as well as qualifying for individual regionals for singles that same year. As a senior, Poole placed fourth in doubles.

With the love of tennis not of out his system by the time he graduated, Poole continued to swing his racket competitively. He played for the San Antonio 5.5 Men's League and the 4.5 Men's League, making sectionals twice.

Poole found his way to St. Mary's by way of his talent during high school, where he was coached by St. Mary's own head tennis coach, Lisa Dausin.

"She's given me the opportunity to further my career in tennis," says Poole, who will be completing his degree in exercise and sport science and soon become a St. Mary's alum like his former coach.

Having already developed an effective line of communication - plus a successful, established tennis relationship - Poole and Dausin advanced the St. Mary's tennis squads last season with improved records for both the men's and women's teams.

"I think this is the most experienced tennis coaching staff St. Mary's has had," says Poole, referring to both his and Dausin's personal experience in competitive tennis.

With tennis experience under his belt and the program taking a step in the right direction as soon as he signed on, Poole is a valuable asset to the coaching staff, bringing excitement and "making (players) remember why they started this sport."

Poole is married to Tara and they have one daughter, Madison.

2011-2012 St. Mary's Men's Tennis Roster