Women's Tennis

Four St. Mary´s Tennis Players Earn All-Heartland Conference Honors

Vanessa Sholles was one of four Rattlers to be named All-Heartland Conference for the 2009-2010 season.

SAN ANTONIO – Four St. Mary’s University tennis players were named All-Heartland Conference for the 2010 season. For the women, Cimen Soy and Vanessa Sholles were selected, while Marcin Marczewski and Marcos Villarreal received the honor for the men.

Sholles (Sr., Paramaribo, Suriname) went 7-11 in singles and 6-15 in doubles for the Rattlers this season, playing at number one and number two singles. Sholles had 45 combined victories in four years playing for the Rattlers.

Soy (Jr., Gothenburg, Sweden) joined the Rattlers for the 2009-2010 season and quickly became the Rattlers number one player. She produced a 6-9 record in singles and 6-13 mark in doubles, playing at number one in both.

The Rattler women’s tennis team also had its best season in eight years with a 9-14 record. St. Mary’s advanced to the Heartland Conference Tournament semifinals, before falling to St. Edward’s University.

Marczewski (So., Warsaw, Poland) earned All-Heartland Conference recognition for the second straight season. He led the Rattlers with a 13-7 record in singles and was 10-10 in doubles play. His 23 combined victories were the most on the team. In just two years with the Rattlers, Marczewski has 49 combined victories.

Villarreal (Sr., Corpus Christi, Texas) wrapped up his St. Mary’s career with perhaps his best season. He produced a 6-5 record in singles, playing at number six, and a 9-10 mark in doubles, playing at number one. His nine doubles wins was the second highest total on the team. In his career, Villarreal has 55 combined wins.

The men’s tennis also had its best season since the 2001-2002 campaign, producing an 8-13 mark. They finished their season in the semifinals of the Heartland Conference Championship, falling to eventual champion St. Edward’s University.

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 five national titles in athletics and one national team academic award. St. Mary’s is home to 13 Academic All-Americans and 225 student-athletes who have earned regional or national academic awards. St. Mary’s student-athletes graduation rate is 63 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent.

    

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 little time 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. She made quick work of the talent on the women's squad in her first season, improving their record from 5-16 in the 2010 season to 10-16 last season. Dausin had the Rattlers face both nationally and regionally ranked teams to strengthen her players and to prep them for Heartland Conference play, a technique that advanced the Rattlers all the way to the conference semifinals.

The women's team held a bulk of the conference's Player of the Week awards, winning four out of the six awards given out during conference play. Dausin saw two Rattlers earn All-Conference honors, including returning player Valentine Lambrechts, who also won two Player of the Week awards, and senior Angelique DeOliveira.

Entering her second season as the women's head coach after doubling their wins last season, Dausin lost four seniors but revamped the roster with a five-deep signing class that includes a Division I transfer. With her expertise, a successful second season looks within reach.

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 Women's Tennis Roster