Three captain tennis players have received 100 career wins this season.

Kyle Davidson, accounting senior, and Lauren Pineda, nursing and sociology senior, received their wins on March 11 and March 13, respectively. Maddie Schorlemmer, psychology senior, got her win on April 7.

“They’ve been great. Match in, and match out, they’ve been ready. They enjoy competitions and have great attitudes,” Head Coach Scott Linn said.

Kyle Davidson

Davidson was the first to receive the win this season and Davidson said it gave him some confidence for the rest of the season.

“It was one of my goals. I set out to achieve my goals. I’m very proud of it,” Davidson said.

He also said this would have never happened if he hadn’t chosen this school four years ago.

“I got lucky. I have had a privilege to play with this team every match, and I’ve been lucky to play so many matches,” Davidson said.

Zack Santagate, marketing senior, has had the opportunity of playing with Davidson for four years, and said he has enjoyed every minute of it.

“He leads by example. I know I can always count on him in any situation. I’m excited for him, he deserves it more than anyone else, and he’s worked harder than anyone I know,” Santagate said.

Dillon Pineda, biology freshman, also said Davidson deserved it. On top of that, he said Davidson was a great leader.

“He’s been a great mentor and teacher. He’s definitely someone I look up to and model my game after,” Dillon said.

He is also from the same area as Davidson, which Dillon said helped with his tennis.

“We hung out a bit over break and worked on some things, which helped my game, and helped our chemistry and confidence,” Dillon said.

Davidson said he doesn’t have many plans involving tennis after he graduates other than coaching some adult leagues.

“I plan on dropping tennis and becoming a regular businessman. I haven’t lived a regular, non-athlete life in a while, so I would like to do that for a bit,” Davidson said.

Lauren Pineda

Lauren Pineda was the second person to join the 100-win club, and said she also felt some confidence. However, she agreed with Davidson, saying the win isn’t about her, and the award she really wants is a national championship.

“While yes, I do like having that award, we have to focus on stuff after that. We have to have our whole team win, and not just me,” Pineda said.

Since Lauren is Dillon’s sister, he had some praise for her.

“She’s been a great athlete since she was in high school. I’m glad I’ve gotten to witness excellent tennis by watching her. She deserves this milestone,” Dillon said.

Schorlemmer also had good things to say about Lauren.

“She definitely deserved that accomplishment. Being on the court with Lauren, it shows that these four years have been worth it. She loves tennis, and it makes me love it even more,” Schorlemmer said.

She also said Lauren is the hardest working athlete she has ever seen.

“Someone like that deserves that award. She has tried hard, and people who don’t work as hard as she has, don’t get something like that,” Schorlemmer said.

Lauren said she plans to put the racket down for a while after graduation, but she does want to play in adult leagues later on in life.

“I do want to take a rest a little bit after my time here, but I don’t want to lose tennis. I’ll see if I can find some adult leagues later,” Pineda said.

Maddie Schorlemmer

Schorlemmer was the latest person to join the 100-win club, and she said that while it does feel good, she didn’t do it by herself.

“This was not a one-woman accomplishment. If I didn’t have a team like this, I don’t think I would’ve gotten here. We are going to accomplish so much as a team, as a whole,” Schorlemmer said.

She had a setback early in her career, which slowed down the process of getting this accomplishment.

“I tore my shoulder labrum and needed surgery, which put me out the spring of my sophomore year and the fall of my junior year. I didn’t think I’d get here, but I did, and I’m glad I was able to,” Schorlemmer said.

She said she made a good decision in picking this school to play tennis.

“We’ve made MSU tennis a big family. It made going through pains, losses, and struggles easier. It got hard sometimes, but I never felt like I wanted to quit. I felt like I needed to come back to be a part of something as big as this for four years,” Schorlemmer said.

She said she wants to keep tennis a part of her life after graduation.

“I’m going to get my masters for sports psychology, and I want to keep tennis in my life by doing that,” Schorlemmer said.

Team Successes

Along with these personal milestones, both tennis teams have been able to hold a winning record so far this season. The men’s team is 11-4 and the women’s team is 13-5.

The athletes agree the reason for the team’s success is good coaching and playing as a team.

“It’s been great seeing all the guys work so hard. Everyone sharing the same goal and working towards it has been the best thing,” Santagate said.

Dillon agreed, and said it’s been good playing with this team.

“Being with a great group of guys, working on my tennis. It’s cool to see how everything is playing out,” Dillon said.

Lauren said she has been lucky to play with a team that is so good. However, she said they have to keep winning to get to the playoffs.

“We can’t settle because it’s all about a national championship. We can’t get cocky,” Lauren said.

Schorlemmer also said the team members have been playing their best this season.

“We’ve worked together as a whole for most of the season, which helped us beat some really good teams like Southwest Baptist, which is the team who beat us in the elite eight last year. This felt good for returners and showed us the potential our team has this year,” Schorlemmer said.

While there have been successes, there have also been things the athletes need to work on. One of the things frequently mentioned was getting freshman used to college-level tennis.

“Most of these young athletes come from playing individual tennis. They aren’t playing in front of a big audience. We have to get them used to the system, and make sure they don’t forget their training,” Linn said.

Davidson agreed with Linn about this issue.

“We have four freshman and we have to get them on the same pace. We have to become a unit, and play for each other. We have to win and lose as a team,” Davidson said.

Another struggle has been time management. Players like Davidson, Dillon, and Pineda said it’s tough to balance training, games, and school.

“Finding that balance and being able to make time for studying, practicing, and playing, can be tough. I’ve had four years, and I still struggle at times,” Davidson said.

Dillon said juggling school and tennis can get difficult.

“Juggling school, practice and trying not to get too overwhelmed or stressed gets hard at times. You just have to take it day-by-day, and get ahead of school so you can focus on games,” Dillon said.

Both tennis teams still have games to play and the players plan to keep those winning records alive to reach the playoffs.

View the men’s tennis team schedule and the women’s tennis team schedule.