SEC awards come to Lady Vols tennis team

The good news just keeps rolling in for the 10th-ranked University of Tennessee women’s tennis team.

Hours after earning their highest ranking (No. 10) in more than five years, the Lady Vols (15-5) were well represented in the SEC postseason awards.

Co-head coaches Mike Patrick and Sonia Hahn-Patrick were named the league’s coaches of the year, junior Caitlin Whoriskey was named to the All-SEC first team, and senior Samantha Orlin and freshman Natalie Pluskota made the second team. Pluskota also was named to the SEC all-freshman team.

“This is a very exciting day for Lady Vol tennis,” Patrick said in a UT release. “All of these awards and the new ranking are tributes to the hard work that our whole team has put in this entire season. While Sonia and I are extremely humbled to have been selected out of such a talented and successful group of coaches, all of the credit goes to our players because they were the ones out on the courts.

“I could not be happier that Caitlin, Sam and Natalie have been recognized for their accomplishments this year,” Patrick said.

The award is the third of Patrick’s career and marks Hahn-Patrick’s second. The husband-wife combination were honored in 2001, while Patrick earned the honor as head coach at Kentucky in 1986.

Whoriskey is ranked No. 45 in the nation and is 19-16 playing at No. 1 singles. She and Pluskota are 10-4 at No. 1 and is ranked No. 20.

Orlin, the only senior, is tied for the team lead with a 24-9 singles record, 8-3 in the SEC

Pluskota is the first UT freshman to earn first- or second-team All-SEC honors.

UT finished second in the SEC Eastern Division and will be the No. 3 seed at the SEC tournament in Fayetteville, Ark., which starts Thursday. UT will play either No. 22 South Carolina or No. 25 Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Friday.