The Seattle University women’s golf team placed second in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships late last month.

Marc Chandonnet, head coach of the women’s and men’s golf teams, wished that the team could have secured the first-place finish in the April 23-25 tournament.

“This is our fourth time finishing second,” Chandonnet said. “It was a bit of a heartbreaker if I’m being honest, for me.”

Regardless of the team’s second-place finish, Graduate Student Samantha Bruce, a computer science major, was still proud of what they accomplished.  

“It was still a good tournament for everyone,” Bruce said. “We had a freshman in [the championships] this year, and she did a really good job.”

Freshman Aaryanna Morris tied for second, making this her best-ever finish in a tournament. Two other Redhawks finished in the top 10: Sophomore Rivekka Jumagulova finished sixth, and Bruce tied for seventh. 

“I’m proud of the team. I think they fought hard and left everything out there,” Chandonnet said.  

A week later, the men’s team placed fourth in their WAC Championships, April 28-30. Two Redhawks placed in the top 10, with Graduate Student Jack Rahon placing fifth and Senior John Morrow tying for ninth.

Despite wishing that Seattle U would have been able to climb higher up the leaderboard, Rahon was satisfied with the team’s efforts.

“I thought we played pretty solidly as a team overall. Unfortunately, other teams played better,” Rahon said. 

Similarly, Chandonnet felt they played well, considering that the tournament was one for the record books, with Seattle U finishing at 22-under 842—their fourth-lowest 54-hole total.

Following the tournament, the WAC released the golf postseason honors. From the women’s team, Bruce was named to her second consecutive All-WAC First Team. On the men’s side, Graduate Student Nathan Cogswell also earned first-team honors alongside Rahon and Sophomore Liam Gill, who were both named to the All-WAC Second Team.

Moving forward, Chandonnet is just looking to continue where they left off this year. 

“We want to win. We’re doing everything else right. We’re getting good grades. We’re working in the community,” Chandonnet said.

Around the same time as the golf teams ended their respective seasons, Seattle U’s men’s and women’s tennis teams were eliminated in the first round of the WAC Championships April 27.

Kristina Hollander, head coach of both tennis teams, thought the Redhawks worked together well and competed, but added that there are improvements that need to be made. 

“We can do better being physically prepared which will then help us be mentally better and help us push through those tough matches,” Hollander said. 

The women’s team fell in the first round 4-1 against Tarleton State University. Sophomores Liliya Dimova and Elena Kraleva as well as Sophomore Mireia Fehr and Freshman Lola Tavcar, won their respective doubles matches to take the doubles point for Seattle U. The Redhawks would fall short when Tavcar, Dimova, Graduate Student Marija Elenova and Sophomore Jade Quintana lost each of their singles matches. 

Kraleva was disappointed with the outcome because she knew that they could have produced better results. Regardless, she knows that everyone played their hardest. 

“At the end of the day, we just had so many things that we had to overcome, and each and every one of us pushed really hard this year,” Kraleva said. 

The men’s season would also end in the first round of the WAC Championships after losing 4-2 against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The Redhawks secured the doubles point with wins from Freshman Yu-Han Hsieh and Sophomore Filip Stipic in addition to Junior Julian Worn and Sophomore Michael Frank. Hsieh also won his singles match, giving the Redhawks an additional point. However, Graduate Student Clement Hamel, Sophomore Veselin Kiselkov, Worn and Frank would fall in their respective singles matches to hand Seattle U the loss. 

Worn expressed disappointment with Seattle U’s loss, especially to a team that they had beaten earlier in the season. 

“I think we had a really good regular season, and we were going into the tournament with maybe the biggest expectations we ever had,” Worn said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t really bring the performance that we wanted to, and we lost to a team that we had beaten a few weeks before.”

Hollander also discussed both teams’ regular seasons, particularly the wins that they had against teams during conference play. 

“The men had amazing wins against Portland State, New Mexico State, UTRGV—teams we’ve never really beaten before,” Hollander said. “The women had a win against [University of Texas Arlington], which is one of the strongest teams in our conference.”

As for next season, Hollander and the Redhawks are ready for the road ahead. 

“Both teams are on the right path. We’re looking forward to next season already,” Hollander said.

While all four teams made their respective WAC tournaments, it is clear the Redhawks are expecting better results in the future as they head into the offseason.