Emory University tennis All-Americans Dillon Pottish (East Quogue, NY) and Gabrielle Clark (Chicago), who both recently captured NCAA D-III singles championships, will be recognized in the July 2 edition of Sports Illustrated's Faces In The Crowd.
Pottish crafted a masterful singles record of 34-3 during the 2011-12 campaign and helped the Eagles to the program's third national championship with the squad posting a perfect 25-0 record. Following the team portion of the championships, Pottish became the second straight and third overall Emory men's player to bring home the singles crown, rattling off five victories capped off by a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, decision over Nick Ballou of Cal Lutheran in the title match. Pottish closed out his three-year stint at Emory in the No. 3 spot for most singles victories (97) and in the No. 1 position with an 87.4 singles winning percentage (97-14).
Clark, the No. 3 seed in the women's competition, battled her way to finals where she upended top-seeded Lok-Sze Leung of Middlebury in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (1), becoming the third women's player in Emory annals to capture the crown. Clark ended the season in strong fashion, winning her last 11 matches en route to finishing with an overall mark of 27-4. Clark, along with the recently-graduate Zahra Dawson, advanced to the doubles finals.
Pottish's and Clark's singles championships marked just the fourth time in D-III history that the men's and women's individual champions came from the same school. Emory's Michael Goodwin and Lorne McManigle each won titles in 2009, while Principia's Toby Clark and Courtney Allen accomplished the feat in both 1985 and 1987.
The July 2 edition of Sports Illustrated hits the newsstands on Wednesday, June 27.
Sometime during the afternoon of the 27th, this week's Faces in the Crowd will be posted online at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces