SoCon women's tennis postseason awards announced

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman’s Lillie Murphy has been named the 2026 Southern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year, as announced by the league on Wednesday. Murphy was also voted the SoCon Freshman of the Year, while the Paladins’ Michelle Dasso was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Western Carolina’s Axelle Van Beurden earned the Sportsmanship Award.

Postseason balloting was conducted by the league’s eight head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. The second team features seven singles players due to a tie in voting.

Murphy is Furman’s first SoCon Player of the Year since 2022. She is the program’s 15^th SoCon Freshman of the Year selection. The first-year player from Knoxville, Tennessee, finished the regular season 15-3 in singles, including a perfect 3-0 record at the No. 1 spot. Murphy played the rest of her singles matches in flight two. In doubles, she went 13-2 overall, which includes an 11-0 mark with classmate Elle Warren. A four-time SoCon Player of the Week this season, Murphy earned first-team all-conference recognition at both singles and doubles with Warren. Murphy enters this week’s SoCon Women’s Tennis Championship having won her last 12 singles matches.

Dasso earned her first SoCon Coach of the Year recognition. She led the Paladins to a 15-4 overall mark and a perfect 7-0 record in SoCon play. Furman earned the No. 1 seed for the SoCon tournament with a 6-1 victory over ETSU on April 11. Under her direction this season, the Paladins earned three first-team all-conference selections, a second team pick and two all-freshman recognitions.
 
Van Beurden becomes Western Carolina’s fifth Sportsmanship Award selection, with the most recent coming in 2022. A freshman from Antwerp, Belgium, Van Beurden competed in flight three in the majority of her 19 singles matches this season.
 
Joining Murphy of the singles all-conference first team were Warren, ETSU’s Alessandra Caceres and Ksenija Rage, and Chattanooga’s Addison Iacono and Rufaro Magarira. On the doubles first team, Murphy and Warren were joined by the ETSU’s Caceres and Mariangel Estrella, and Wofford’s Grace Agster and Quinn Bernthal.

The singles second team is Agster, ETSU’s Julia Millan, Furman’s Macy Hitchcock, Mercer’s Marina de Diego Quinones and Sofiya Tsitavets, UNCG’s Sophia Cedeno, and Western Carolina’s Mariya Dobreva. For doubles, the second-team all-conference picks were the combinations of Millan and Rage, de Diego Quinones and Ines Homberg, and Samford’s Eleni Liakonis and Hailey Troup.
 

The all-freshman team selections were Estrella, Murphy, Warren, Iacono, Magarira, and UNCG’s Sophia Cedeno.

The SoCon Women’s Tennis Championship begins Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with all eight league teams vying for the title.
 
2026 Southern Conference Player of the Year

Lillie Murphy, Furman

2026 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year

Lillie Murphy, Furman

2026 Southern Conference Coach of the Year

Michelle Dasso, Furman
 

2026 Southern Conference Sportsmanship Award

Axelle Van Beurden, Western Carolina

2026 All-Southern Conference Women’s Tennis

First team

Singles

Alessandra Caceres, ETSU

Ksenija Rage, ETSU

Lillie Murphy, Furman

Elle Warren, Furman

Addison Iacono, Chattanooga

Rufaro Magarira, Chattanooga

Doubles
Alessandra Caceres/Mariangel Estrella, ETSU

Elle Warren/Lillie Murphy, Furman
Grace Agster/Quinn Bernthal, Wofford

 
Second team
Singles

Julia Millan, ETSU

Macy Hitchcock, Furman

Marina de Diego Quinones, Mercer

Sofiya Tsitavets, Mercer

Sophia Cedeno, UNCG

Mariya Dobreva, Western Carolina

Grace Agster, Wofford

Doubles

Julia Millan/Ksenija Rage, ETSU

Marina de Diego Quinones/Ines Homberg, Mercer

Eleni Liakonis/Hailey Troup, Samford

All-Freshman

Mariangel Estrella, ETSU

Lillie Murphy, Furman
Elle Warren, Furman

Sophia Cedeno, UNCG

Addison Iacono, Chattanooga

Rufaro Magarira, Chattanooga