The Chattanooga Mocs men's tennis team saw Jakub Jupa claim Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors as the team totaled seven overall selections, a program record, as the league office announced its winners on Wednesday.
The award winners were announced during the annual SoCon Tournament team reception dinner held on site at Champions Club in the Rivermont area of town. The championship event runs from April 18-20/21 with the No. 5 seeded UTC men's team battling No. 4 Mercer tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
ET in the quarterfinals.
ALL-SOCON PERFORMERS
Jakub Jupa – Freshman of the Year, First Team (Singles), All-Freshman
Jupa became the program's sixth SoCon Freshman of the Year since the award's start in 1992 after a stellar rookie season as the team's No. 1 singles participant. Jupa finished the regular season 14-5 in dual singles action including a 7-1 mark (6-1 SoCon) at the No. 1 slot. He's 8-2 in his last 10 singles matches heading into tournament play.
Jakub Jupa & Peyton Gatti – First Team (Doubles)
Jupa and Gatti played all seven league matches at No. 1 doubles and finished the conference slate with a 5-2 record as part of their 10-4 overall dual doubles record, with all 14 matches at the top spot. Including fall results, the tandem is 18-6 together as a doubles team with Gatti carrying a 21-9 overall mark and Jupa a 20-10 tally. It's Gatti's second-straight first team doubles honor.
Gabriel Castillo – Second Team (Singles)
Castillo was named to the All-SoCon Second Team in singles play after finishing the regular season with a 12-10 overall dual record including an impressive 5-2 record in SoCon matches, all at the No. 2 position. In his two seasons so far at UTC, Castillo has compiled a 29-16 overall singles record and has played to an 11-3 record in SoCon singles matches.
Cortland Grove & Jordan McClure – Second Team (Doubles)
Grove and McClure earned All-SoCon Second Team honors in doubles play after finishing the regular season with a 7-7 overall dual doubles record while going 4-3 in SoCon doubles matches at the No. 2 tandem. The honor marks Grove's second All-SoCon laurel after earning a spot on the freshman team last season while it's the first league laurel for McClure.
Ethan Carr – All-Freshman
Ethan Carr rounded out the team's all-conference honors with a spot on the All-Freshman team after going 5-5 in singles dual play and 2-1 in doubles play. In addition to Jupa, UTC has featured a representative on the all-rookie team in four of the past five seasons (excluding 2020 COVID year).
SOCON TOURNAMENT MATCH DETAILS
Date: Thursday, April 18 – Saturday, April 20 (April 21 if needed)
Match: #5 Chattanooga vs. #4 Mercer (Quarterfinals)
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Site: Champions Club · Chattanooga (3400 Lupton Drive)
Follow/Info: Live Stats · Tournament Central
No. 5 Chattanooga (9-14) opens SoCon Tournament play against No. 4 Mercer (7-12) in the quarterfinal round tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET at Champions Club. UTC is coming off a runner-up finish in last year's SoCon Tournament after claiming the program's first-ever regular season title in the process.
The Mocs dropped a 4-1 decision to Mercer in its last meeting in tournament play. That match also occurred on April 18 with that match coming back in 2019 at Mercer's home site in Macon, Ga.
Please stick to GoMocs.com and the Tournament Central link posted above for all results, time changes, weather updates, and more. With potential rain in the forecast, locations and times are subject to change.