JACKSON, Miss. –There were a lot of firsts for the Belhaven tennis programs during the 2013 season, which concluded with the men making it to the round of 16 in the NAIA National Finals. The Blazer men and women both found themselves in the NAIA top 25 for a majority of the season and hovered with the Southern States Athletic Conference elite.

Belhaven's women's squad—led by four outstanding seniors—kicked off their season at a torrid pace. The Blazers won four of their first five matches, including the season opener against conference foe Loyola University (La.). The Blazers only loss during that span was to the Lady Nuggets of Xavier University of Louisiana, a team that finished third in the country at season's end.

After defeating Louisiana College, a NCAA Division III opponent, the Blazer ladies ran into some of their stiffest competition yet. Belhaven traveled to the Auburn-Montgomery Tournament in early March to take on Cumberland (Tenn.) and the host Lady Warhawks.

Belhaven arguably played their two best matches of the season during the tournament despite losing both in a two day span. The No. 1 and eventually national champion Warhawks struggled to put the Blazers away, but pulled through in the end with a 7-2 victory. Cumberland also had difficulty with Belhaven's deep lineup, but defeated the Blazers in a close 6-3 matchup.

Following the disappointing finish at the AUM Tournament, Belhaven rallied off three straight victories against Rust College and Spring Hill (Ala.) to bring themselves to 7-3 on the year. That week the Blazers would achieve their highest ranking of the season in the polls.

The Blazers won four of their next six matches, including conference victories over Mobile and Loyola—entering the SSAC tournament with an 11-5 overall record.

Belhaven was unfortunately tasked with William Carey in the tournament opener and their season was closed by the Crusaders 5-0. William Carey would get knocked out of the conference tournament the next day, but they ultimately played rival Auburn-Montgomery for national title.

Five of Belhaven's six losses on the season came from teams who finished in the top five ranked teams when the final polls came out in late May. The Cumberland loss accounted for their sixth and they were ranked 18th overall.

Auburn-Montgomery won their ninth national title in the last ten years, as the SSAC continues to display its powerhouse status in women's tennis.

The Belhaven women finished the season 11-5 and ranked 27th in the final coaches' poll of the year. They bid a fond farewell to seniors Indi Mire, Shelley Munn, Natalia Krier and Savannah Zachry who were all a part of turning Belhaven women's tennis into a national contender.

On the men's side, the Blazers entered the season with SSAC title and national tournament aspirations. Belhaven had a slew of top-ranked individual players and highly-touted recruits to add to their impressive cast for the 2013 season.
Belhaven showed off their might early in the season, winning their first three matches with ease over Loyola, Tougaloo and Division I opponent Jackson State.

However, the Blazers would get into the meat of their schedule over the next four competitions. Belhaven faced two top five opponents in Xavier (La.) and Auburn-Montgomery, losing both for their first two losses of the year. The Gold Nuggets narrowly edged the Blazers 5-4, while the Warhawks defeated Belhaven 9-0.

Both matches would set up chances for revenge in later meetings between the schools.

After easy wins over Spring Hill and Rust, the 8-2 Blazers found themselves in a heated home match with in-state rival William Carey. The Crusaders had taken many of the previous meetings between the two schools, as one of the NAIA men's tennis powerhouses in recent years.

Belhaven was hopeful that a mid-season home event would change their fortunes against the feisty Crusaders, but William Carey swept them in doubles before ultimately taking the match 6-3.

The loss did not sit well with the Blazers, as they rattled off five straight wins in convincing fashion to end the regular season with a 13-3 overall record. Belhaven flirted with a top 10 ranking in the NAIA coaches' polls entering some pivotal SSAC tournament matches.

The Blazers first task of the tournament was Lee University, who Belhaven quickly dispatched 5-0 to move on for a rematch with William Carey.

Over a month had passed between the two schools' meeting in Jackson, but the Blazers had been spurred on by the sour taste in their mouths. The Blazers had not lost since that date in March and quickly showed in the rematch that they were ready for business.

Belhaven took two of the three doubles matches and then rallied to win three singles matches to take the victory 5-3 over the Crusaders. The win put Belhaven in a rematch situation with Auburn-Montgomery—only this time with a conference title on the line.

The Blazers hung tough with the Warhawks, but fell in the conference title match 5-1. It was the first appearance in a SSAC championship for Belhaven men's tennis since they entered the league a few years ago.

Belhaven's No. 12 ranking in the final regular season poll led them to grabbing a slot in the NAIA national tournament, where they would face Spring Arbor (Mich.) in the first round.

The Blazers only dropped the top spots in singles and doubles, sweeping the rest of the way to claim a 7-2 win over the Cougars. A win over Spring Arbor meant that Belhaven would get another shot at Xavier with a berth to the final eight being awarded to the winner.

Belhaven's reshuffled lineup was supposed to give them more of an edge heading into the match, but the Gold Nuggets played top-notch tennis to down the Blazers 5-3. The loss would end Belhaven's exhilarating season to a close, finishing the year with a final record of 16-5.

Following the season Nikita Lisov and Jefferson Nino were both named to the NAIA All-American Honors lists.

Lisov, a junior from Moscow, Russia, finished 10-8 in singles matches this season and was 10-9 in doubles matches. Lisov played the majority of the season in the number one position and faced some of the toughest competition in the country throughout the course of the year.

Nino, a sophomore from Bogota, Columbia, was 14-4 in 2013 and primarily occupied the number two spot in the singles lineup this season. Nino had an identical 14-4 record in doubles play as well.

Five tennis players were also named to the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete list for their outstanding work in the classroom.

Savannah Zachry, a senior from Madison, Mississippi was the one representative on the women's side. Zachry matched success in the classroom with an outstanding season on the court as well. She went 10-4 in singles play this season at three different positions, while also tagging up with Shelley Munn to go 9-6 between the second and third doubles spots.

On the men's side, Blake Hilgenkamp, Jim Scott, Jonathan West and Robby Wright all found themselves above the 3.5 mark. Hilgenkamp, West and Wright all just finished their senior seasons, while Scott has one more year of eligibility remaining.
Scott was 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles in 2013.

"This season was another huge stepping stone for us as we continue to get better in the always tough SSAC," said Belhaven tennis coach Levin Patton. "We had two teams that fought for every match and I am really excited for the direction that these programs are heading towards in the near future."