TEMPE – The best rookie in collegiate tennis wears Maroon and Gold. Murphy Cassone earned the national Rookie of the Year award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the association announced today. The honor comes a week after Cassone earned ITA Southwest Region Rookie of the Year. The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year went undefeated in conference play and reached the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship. He ended the year 15-6 (9-0 Pac-12) in singles and 10-9 in doubles. Cassone is the first Pac-12 men’s winner of the national Rookie of the Year award since Stanford’s Bradley Klahn in 2009.
ITA release
Division I Men’s Rookie of the Year ??
Murphy Cassone | @SunDevilMTennis #WeAreCollegeTennis | #ITAAwardshttps://t.co/D5aPauIXTg
— ITA (@ITA_Tennis) June 13, 2022
Cassone ended the season at No. 26 in the ITA singles rankings but peaked at No. 15 on April 20 which made him the highest ranked freshman in the country. Cassone defeated seven ranked opponents, including August Holmgren from San Diego who was the No. 1 player in the country at the time. It wasn’t Cassone’s only upset, as he defeated No. 2 Arthur Fury (Stanford), No. 6 Clement Chidekh (Washington) and No. 9 Daniel De Jonge (Pepperdine) during the season. His successful freshman campaign included ending the season winning 13 of his last 15 single matches, with a nine-match winning streak heading into the NCAA Championships.
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