Former local tennis star, Stephanie Barnett, has been inducted into the Nicholls State University Hall of Fame in America.
The ceremony took place on October 25, with Barnett travelling to USA to accept her award.
Nicholls is a division
one college in the Southland conference in the state
of Louisiana.
Barnett spent time at the university between 2013 and 2019 playing tennis.
She was recruited by Meenakshi Sundaram
after being prompted to pursue college tennis by Elizabeth Peers.
In her freshman year at college, Barnett was named in the second team All Southland in singles after posting a 15-6 record.
She gained her ranking of 61 in the ITA singles rankings after a win over the 21st ranked player in
the country.
She was also named Nicholls Freshman Female Student of the Year.
In her sophomore year, she became the one of the most decorated players in program’s history.
She was named Southland Player of the Year after going through 18-3 in singles, playing all but one match at line one, only one of two players to win all conference matches and led Nicholls to its first regular season title in 20 years.
Barnett was named Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year, Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Student Athlete of the Year, Nicholls Female Student of the Year, First Team All Southland in both singles and doubles, Southland Conference Number One Singles Player, First Team Academic All Southland and First team
All Louisiana.
Barnett ended her career with a 64-20 record in singles, playing 72 matches at number one, and 41-32 in doubles, again playing 62 matches at number one.
Barnett gained her Bachelor of Education and also her Masters in Educational Leadership and Administration and currently teaches in Melbourne.
In her acceptance speech she thanked the many coaches she had over the journey at Bairnsdale Tennis Club and made particular mention of Julie and John Glynn, and the late Barry Stokes, who were great supporters of her sporting endeavours.
