Led By Wai, Holy Cross Dominates Men's Tennis Postseason Honors

CHICAGO --- The Holy Cross College men's tennis program continued its dominance in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference on Tuesday afternoon.  After winning both the regular-season and tournament crowns last month, the Saints claimed eight of the 17 postseason awards that were announced by the league office on Tuesday.

Highlighting the group effort was Oscar Wai (Hong Kong, China).  The CCAC Freshman of the Year two springs ago, the junior captured CCAC Player of the Year accolades this time around after ranking as high as No. 5 in the nation.

Heading into the NAIA National Championships, Wai boasted a 19-5 overall singles record from his No. 1 slot in the lineup and held a No. 7 national ranking.  He also went 8-1 in doubles play, playing primarly at No. 3.

Wai won this past fall's ITA regional tournament.  He then went on to place fifth at the ITA National Championships. 

Claiming the other top individual award was St. Ambrose University's Samy Khiyara (Liege, Belgium), who was named the CCAC Freshman of the Year.  A transfer from Northwestern College (Iowa), he went 6-3 overall and 2-0 in league play on both the singles and doubles circuits.

Khiyara saw the majority of his time at No. 4 singles, but also played at Nos. 3 and 5.  In doubles, he teamed with Miguel Sampaio at No. 2.

Four of the six players named to the singles all-conference team were familiar faces.  Wai earned a spot on the squad for the third year in a row, while teammate Luca McManus (Delray Beach, Fla.) completed a four-year sweep on the unit.  Repeat choices were Matthew Jezyk (Oak Brook, Ill.), also from Holy Cross, and Olivet Nazarene University's Chatton Haws (Cedarburg, Wis.). 

Rounding out the list were Judson University's Brayden Kopp (Streamwood, Ill.) and Olivet Nazarene's Paul Saleh (Tiburon, Calif.).

On the doubles all-conference team, Holy Cross earned four of the six spots, topped by McManus, a three-time selection.  He was paired with Jezyk.

Saleh, meanwhile, was a repeat pick as was Holy Cross' Naithaolin Golmei (Tyler, Texas).  Saleh teamed up with Haws, while Thomas Friesen (Kamloops, Canada) was paired with Golmei.

Rounding out the list of award winners were Judson head coach Chad Kerrigan and Olivet Nazarene's Randy Haws, both of whom shared CCAC Coach of the Year recognition.  St. Ambrose also claimed the CCAC Champions of Character Team designation.

Besides Holy Cross, Olivet Nazarene took home five awards, while Judson and St. Ambrose each secured two.  Holy Cross totaled the most all-conference selections (seven) courtesy of its top numbers in singles (three) and doubles (four).    

For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.