FOREST, Va. – Guilford College’s Tate Godwin (Chapel Hill, N.C./Carolina Friends) earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Men’s Tennis Rookie of the Year Award Tuesday. The league’s head coaches also tabbed the Quakers’ rookie to the First Team All-ODAC squad at first singles. Godwin and teammate Mesa Martorell (Wimberley, Texas/Wimberley) represented Guilford on the Second Team All-ODAC unit at first doubles.
Selections were made based on records compiled in ODAC dual matches.
Godwin joined Tyler Mercier (2011) as the second Quaker lauded with the league’s top prize for newcomers. Godwin posted a 6-3 record at first singles in ODAC play and went 10-11 overall. He ranked second on the team in singles wins (10), third in doubles victories (12) and second in overall wins (22). Godwin finished the season with five straight wins, including a double-bagel (6-0, 6-0) triumph over Second Team All-ODAC selection Paul Gladstone of Virginia Wesleyan College. Godwin also took down the other second-team all-league pick, Lynchburg College’s Juan Borga, in three sets.
Godwin and Martorell formed the Quakers’ top doubles tandem and posted a 6-2 mark against the ODAC’s other first-doubles teams. The pair had a team-best 12-10 overall mark, 10-6 in dual matches. One of their top wins was an 8-5 win over fellow second-team selections Kyle Hartfield and Joe Dillenbeck of Bridgewater College.
Martorell and Godwin helped Guilford to their best record (12-6) in 21 years. Their efforts contributed to the Quakers’ first ODAC Tournament final in school history. Coach Dave McCain’s club fell in the May 7 final to 29th-ranked Washington and Lee University, 5-0.