STATESBORO - Georgia Southern Head Women's Tennis Coach Sean McCaffrey was named the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, while three Eagles earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors with the release of the league's annual awards on Wednesday.

Sophomore Nadja Meier was named first-team All-Conference singles, while the duo of Charlotte van Diemen and Sophie Wagemaker were named first-team All-Conference doubles. The trio are the first Georgia Southern student-athletes to earn first-team All-Sun Belt honors since the Eagles joined the league in 2015.

McCaffrey led Georgia Southern to a 19-8 overall record in 2021, setting a new school record for single season wins, while also going 7-3 in league play to earn the East No. 2 seed in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Eagles defeated ULM, 4-0, then knocked off both of the top seeds from the West and the East, UT Arlington and South Alabama, respectively, to claim the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Title. The title is the first conference tournament title for Georgia Southern tennis since 1996 and also earns the Eagles their first NCAA Championships berth.

This is the third conference Coach of the Year honor for Georgia Southern women's tennis - McCaffrey joins Cathy Beene (1998) and Gary Glassman (1995) as honorees, both of whom earned Coach of the Year honors from the SoCon. Individually, this is McCaffrey's fifth overall conference coaching honor. He was the Peach Belt Conference's 2016 Women's Coach of the Year at Armstrong State and The Commonwealth Coast Conference's 2008 Coach of the Year at Colby-Sawyer. He also has earned men's tennis Coach of the Year honors from the Peach Belt (2016, Armstrong State) and the Horizon League (2012, Wright State).

"First, I'd like to thank my Sun Belt coaching colleagues for recognizing me with this amazing honor," Coach McCaffrey said. "I'm truly humbled, and thankful that they thought the work we all did this season was deserving. This is truly a team award, earned by the entire Eagle program.

"This has been an extremely difficult 14 months for all college tennis coaches," Coach McCaffrey said. "Any of the other Sun Belt coaches are equally deserving of this honor as they also had to deal with the difficulties of navigating a season filled with so many challenges. I'm thankful for our athletic administration, for giving us the opportunity to compete and enjoy the season that we had. I'm thankful for all of our support staff, my volunteer assistant Elena, and everyone who kept us all on point. But this award was really earned by, not just the amazing women I get to coach and share time with on a daily basis, but also my assistant coach, Lena Lutzeier. She kept us moving forward and did not allow anyone to take half-measures in taking care of the task at hand. Our phenomenal team culture, their willingness to trust in our process and their belief in each other propelled the squad to put together such a historic season. All of our former players, coaches and staff have played a role in everything that has led up to this season's success, and I hope they know how important of a role that they had in creating such a fantastic program. But we are not done yet. We hope to represent Georgia Southern and the Sun Belt Conference with pride as we take the court in the NCAA Championships, wherever that may take us."

Nadja Meier becomes the first Georgia Southern women's tennis player to be named first-team All-Conference in singles since Paola Garrido was a first-team All-SoCon singles player in 2012. She went 15-9 in singles play this spring, including a 4-3 mark at No. 1 singles and an 11-4 mark at No. 2 singles. The Potsdam, Germany, native also went 9-2 in singles as a freshman during the shortened 2020 campaign. She handed 2021 Sun Belt Player of the Year Yu Fujioka her only singles loss of the conference season with a 6-4, 6-3 win on April 10th and won 13 of her 15 singles matches in 2021 in straight sets.

Overall, Meier is the fourth Georgia Southern player to earn All-Sun Belt singles honors, joining second-team honorees Anne Kurzweil (2015), Giulia Riepe (2016) and Arianne de Winter (2018).

"Nadja had a phenomenal year," Coach McCaffrey said. "For her to be the first Eagle to earn first-team singles honors in the Sun Belt is very deserving, and she should be extremely proud of the honor. I am certain her teammates will share in their appreciation and joy in the acknowledgement as well. Nadja played much of the year at No. 2 singles, but worked so incredibly hard during practice and in training in order to earn her team a point when she was on the court. Nadja has been such a fantastic teammate to the rest of her team, and she is adored by everyone. Nadja is pure class as a young woman, a fierce fighter, and I am so thankful that we get to spend the next three years with her, watching her grow as an Eagle."

In doubles, van Diemen and Wagemaker become the first Eagles to earn first-team All-Conference doubles since Isabella Kling and Amy Bartlett were first-team All-SoCon doubles honorees in 2001. The duo went 9-8 in doubles in 2021, all at the No. 1 doubles position, and went a perfect 3-0 in the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament play to help the Eagles capture the championship. The pair also knocked off the No. 6-ranked doubles duo of Marie Mattel and Rebeka Stolmar of UCF on January 30th by a 6-2 score. During the regular season, the pair claimed Sun Belt doubles wins over Moreno and Takanishi of South Alabama, as well as Dalla-Bonna and Mount of Coastal Carolina.

The pair are the third duo to earn All-Sun Belt doubles honors, joining second-team honorees Arianne de Winter/Paula Boixader (2018) and Arianne de Winter/Emilia Bujan (2019).

"This award is particularly exciting for the team," Coach McCaffrey said. "Sophie really did a great job as a true freshman, and has had the chance to learn from such a fantastic leader in her partner, Lot. For much of the season, we were trying to identify the right doubles pairs, and we knew that Lot and Sophie were quite special when they earned their win over the No. 6-ranked team in the nation from UCF. When we were in our stretch run and winning doubles points each time out, they were always right in the mix and delivered some of the most key moments in doubles during the season and at the Sun Belt Championships. We have some great depth in doubles, and although we lose two amazing players and leaders in Lot and Paula [Boixader], I know we have some fantastic women who are ready to step in and carry the torch next year."

Georgia Southern will learn its NCAA Championships fate on Monday, May 3rd, with a 6 p.m. selection show.