Men's Tennis

Strong Weekend Moves Rattler Tennis to No. 50 Nationally

The Rattlers have won three straight. (Photo by Robin Johnson/St. Mary's Athletics)

ABILENE, Texas — A busy, three–match weekend had the Rattlers swinging hard to win three straight with two young Rattlers going undefeated.

The triple–victory weekend came after a tough shutout to nationally ranked Abilene Christian played the day before the three–match stay in Abilene, Texas. St. Mary’s (8–11, 4–1) apparently shook the loss off quickly, turning around to defeat both McMurry University and Southwest University 8–1 on Friday before defeating Howard Payne 6–2 on Saturday.

Holding down the court as one of St. Mary’s youngest players, freshman Michael Ortiz (Corpus Christi, Texas) dominated all three of his singles competitions, only allowing one opponent to score more than two in one set. His weekend started with Alex Johnson from McMurry University. Ortiz won his first set 6–2 and charged to hold Johnson scoreless in the final set, 6–0, to pick up the point in St. Mary’s 8–1 victory.

A few hours later Ortiz faced Richard Southern from Southwest University and won a 6–3 first set, the only set in which any of his opponents scored more than two. Ortiz banked his second victory of the day with a trumped 6–1 second set to add to the Rattlers’ 8–1 victory. In his final day in Abilene, Texas, Ortiz left on a triumphant note. His last battle against Brit Campell from Howard Payne gave him a 6–2, 6–0 win in St. Mary’s 6–2 day to give the newcomer three victories for an undefeated weekend.

An extra season in experience than Ortiz, sophomore Carlos Olea (Matamoros, Mexico) dominated all three of his singles competitions, never allowing any of his opponents to score a single point. The reigning Heartland Conference Player of the Week also picked up wins in all three of his doubles competitions with teammate Jake Williams (Sr., Dallas). In a scene that would become familiar for all his opponents, Olea started his trek against Donald Matthews, slicing for a 6–0,6–0 victory. Olea went on to win his next two singles matches in the same, close–out fashion to defeat Southwest University and Howard Payne matches, 6–0,6–0.

St. Mary’s other reigning Heartland Conference Players of Week Marin Marczewski (Sr., Warsaw, Poland) and Andrej Klipa (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia) charged to win all three of their doubles competitions, while individually the Rattlers went 2–1 and 1–2 in singles, respectively. Williams and Nestor Moreno (Sr., Bogota, Colombia) both went 2–1 in their own singles competitions for the weekend.

The bragging rights of three–straight victories extended to more than the weekend, however, as St. Mary’s is now nationally ranked at No. 50, believed to be the first time in men’s tennis history.

The Rattlers will hit again Thursday against Temple College in Temple, Texas at 12 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