ITA NAIA men's regional awards

        NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana men's tennis standouts Santiago Perez and Jacobi Bain were announced Thursday as ITA NAIA South Region award winners for the 2021-22 season. Perez is Senior Player of the Year, and Bain is Rookie of the Year.
        Perez, from Pereira, Colombia, was 21-1 in singles and 17-4 in doubles and led the Gold Rush to a 20-6 record — XULA's first 20-win season of the modern era (1994-present) — and a quarterfinal berth at NAIA nationals. In the final ITA NAIA national player rankings, Perez was No. 2 in singles and, with Juan Ramirez, No. 3 in doubles.
        Bain, a freshman from Nassau, Bahamas, was 20-7 in singles and 26-9 in doubles. During the fall Bain and Ramirez were the NAIA doubles runner-up at the ITA Cup. Bain ended the season No. 20 with Megh Patel in the ITA NAIA doubles rankings.
        The ITA will announce June 16 the national winners of these awards.
        Perez is the third XULA man to win the senior regional award; Loic Didavi (2012-13) and Kyle Montrel (2015-16) also won it. Bain is the fourth XULA man, all in the last six seasons, to win the rookie regional award; Antoine Richard (2016-17), Shaikh Abdullah (2017-18) and Perez (2018-19) also won it.
        Also Thursday, Perez was announced as an ITA NAIA All-American for the fourth consecutive season.