OXFORD, Ohio - The River States Conference is pleased to unveil the individual award winners in the sport of tennis for the 2026 season, as selected by the league's head coaches. The tennis program at Oakland City University won three of the conference's six major awards, including both Player of the Year honors. Midway University swept the Newcomer of the Year awards, with IU Southeast claiming a Coach of the Year award. The awards were announced at the league's annual awards ceremony in Evansville, in between the quarterfinal rounds of the RSC Tournament.
For the third year in a row, Oakland City's Jose Andres Perez Perez was named the RSC Men's Tennis Player of the Year. The Mexico native is the highest-ranked RSC player ranked by the ITA in the nation's top 75 players, ranking 61st. He is also a part of two doubles teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation, with his pairing with Alejo Chlpac ranked 16th and his duo with Nelson Ramos ranked 19th.
The 2026 RSC Newcomer of the Year was awarded to Ricardo Starosta of Midway University. Starosta is the only other RSC player ranked nationally by the ITA, ranking 68th in the nation. Starosta had a great first season with the Eagles, going 6-2 in singles play and 7-1 in doubles. His performance earned him RSC Player of the Week honors on two separate occasions.
For the fourth year in a row, Oakland City's Colin Dixon was honored as the RSC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year. The Mighty Oaks went undefeated in conference play for the fourth year in a row, and will enter this weekend's tournament as the favorite to win a fifth consecutive RSC Tournament championship.
Oakland City also claimed the RSC Player of the Year honor on the women's side, thanks to Silvia Fernandez de la Pradilla. Fernandez de la Pradilla is nationally ranked in both singles and doubles play, ranking 61st in the nation and singles and 41st in the nation as part of her doubles team with Berta Ladaga Auge. According to the ITA, she holds a 13-4 record in singles play and a 14-5 doubles mark this season.
As they did on the men's side, the Midway Eagles claimed the RSC Women's Tennis Newcomer of the Year award, which was given to Alicia Sanglas Sanglas. Sanglas and doubles partner Emma Pheiffer routinely got the Eagles off to great starts this season, where they put together a 9-3 record as the No. 1 doubles team. Sanglas had success as a singles player as well, going 7-5 at the top flight.
For the first time in his tenure in New Albany, IU Southeast's Clif Winchell was named the RSC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year. Under his direction, the Grenadiers improved their conference record by two games in 2026, going 4-2 and finishing third overall. Earlier Thursday, the Grenadiers won a conference tournament match for the second year in a row, and will face Midway in the semifinals on Saturday.
Each of the conference's six men's teams and the top six women's teams are in Evansville, Indiana this weekend for the 2026 River States Conference Tennis Tournament. The winners of the tournament, which has quarterfinal rounds on Thursday, semifinal matches on Friday, and the championship match on Saturday, will earn the RSC's automatic berths into the NAIA Tournament, which begins May 12 in its usual location of Mobile, Alabama.