Northwest's Rosewell earns ITA Central Region Men's Tennis Coach of the Year
Jun. 15—Northwest Missouri State head tennis coach Mark Rosewell can now add even more to his list of accolades.
In his 37th year at the helm of Northwest tennis, Rosewell has been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 2021 Men's Tennis NCAA Division II Central Region Coach of the Year.
It marks Rosewell's seventh ITA region coach of the year award, earning it twice for the women and five times for the men.
The last time he captured the award was in 2017 for the men, after earning it for four straight seasons since 2014.
Rosewell said this year's achievement holds even more meaning due to the challenges of competing amid the pandemic.
"This is a special one because of what we've gone through, just athletics in general," Rosewell said. "We were just happy to have a season in the spring, that's for sure. The kids performed with all the circumstances going on so well and that's a difficult thing to do."
The Bearcat men captured a final No. 1 ranking in the Central Region this year after winning the Central Region title and advancing to the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
Roswell noted how the squad made quite the turnaround from last season.
"Honestly, several of those teams last spring had beaten us early in the year when we just had the one-third of the season in the spring," Rosewell said. "I mean, we beat every team in the region. If you can imagine that, that's hard to do. We played a couple of them twice and lost a couple of them, too, but to beat every team that's probably why we're the number one team."
Rosewell produced a men's All-America selection in freshman Andrea Zamurri.
For the first time in program history, Zamurri earned the MIAA Player of the Year award and the league's Freshman of the Year award.
With an overall record of 18-2, Zamurri finished his season at No. 3 in the ITA's national singles rankings and claimed the No. 1 singles ranking in the Central Region.
The legendary head coach has guided his teams to 40 combined NCAA Tournament appearances and 1,141 victories at Northwest.
Rosewell added the success of both the men's and women's programs over the years is a true accomplishment in his eyes.
"Two years ago, our women actually made it to the top eight in the country too and won the regional also, and for a cold weather school to do that consistently year in and year out, I really feel like we're doing something right up here. That's for sure," Rosewell said.
Micaela Dea can be reached at micaela.dea@newspressnow.com.
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