Rohnert Park, CA - "We are saddened that it has become necessary to reduce the number of intercollegiate sports being sponsored by Sonoma State, particularly the impact it will have on our high-performing student-athletes and excellent coaching staffs", said interim Athletics Director Stan Nosek. Nosek stated on Tuesday that the savings from this decision will be used for providing scholarships and services in support of student-athlete's athletic and academic success. For the full press release from Sonoma State and a statement from SSU President Judy Sakaki, click HERE.
As many of you can imagine, it has been a wild few months in the world and the decisions made Tuesday afternoon were made to help better the athletics department and an effort to focus on the university's institutional mission while also addressing our current budget challenges. As a department and a university, we will take this time as well as the remainder of the academic year to honor the sports programs we lost, and give the respect and recognition they rightfully deserve as student-athletes, coaches, and fans of the programs.
Our men's tennis program has quickly developed a lot of history and have shown great success over the last few seasons. Head coach Jose Hilla was in his third season at the helm for the Seawolves after serving as the assistant coach for the women's program for the 5 previous seasons. Coach Hilla led the Seawolves to back-to-back 10+ win 
seasons in 2018 and 2019. He would win 14 matches in his first year as head coach during the 2018 season, tied for third most in program history! After going 10-6 in the 2019 campaign, SSU secured a nationally ranking of 45! The first time the Seawolves were ranked nationally since 2014. Coach Hilla's signature, "Come on Noma!" or "Let's go Noma!" will be greatly missed. He was always a delight to see on the court and never failed to have a positive attitude. His personality was infectious and he could always put a smile on your face.
The men's tennis program also had a terrific group of seniors this spring. Lovedeep Singh, Max Nudell and Alec Wong highlighted the 2020 class for the Seawolves. The SSU athletic department will come out with senior spotlight stories in the coming weeks for all of our spring sport programs that will honor and recognize our 2020 Seawolf Seniors.
For our women's tennis program, they were on a similar path as the men as star players have begun to make their way through the program and give the Seawolves a powerhouse-like feel and identity when looked at by opposing schools. Top performers like Jensyn Warren, Jenna DeTurk, and even 2020 freshman star Sasha Turchak were helping put Sonoma State on the map and making the program a competitive place to play tennis at the next level. Head coach, Rafael Martinez, was in his first year at the head coach position alongside Jose Hilla. He served as an assistant for the men's and women's tennis programs here at SSU for 3 years after he finished his playing career at 
Holy Names University. Martinez had an impressive playing resume that he brought with him to Sonoma State. He was named team captain from 2013 to 2015 as well as Holy Names' Male Athlete of the Year in 2015. Martinez was regionally ranked #18 in singles and #6 in doubles during the 2015 season in which he led HNU Tennis to achieve a #33 national ranking in the second year of the program's history. In his first season as head coach of the program, Rafael led the Seawolves to a 5-4 record with key victories over Dominican University, Holy Names, and Concordia Irvine. Rafa, as the players and staff knew him, was always a delight on campus and he was always able to connect with the girls in an such an influential way to always get the best out of them. The lone senior for the 2020 class is Jenna DeTurk. She will be highlighted in the senior spotlight for women's tennis in the coming weeks along with the rest of the spring sports.
Finally, our women's water polo program led by 4 year head coach and former SSU All-American Chelsea Hennan! Hennan has been on the coaching staff for the SSU water polo program for over a decade and served as a long time assistant to Coralie Simmons. In her 4 years as a head coach for the program, Chelsea Hennan was voted as the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Women's Coach of the Year in June of 2017 after leading the Seawolves to their highest-ever finish in the WWPA Championship! In her first year at the helm of Sonoma States water polo program Hennan guided the Seawolves to a program high second-place finish in the 2017 WWPA Women's Championship thanks to victories over Gannon and Cal State East Bay in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, to reach the conference finals for the first time in SSU's history! Sonoma State would eventually lose to nationally-ranked UC San Diego, but finishing second in the tournament was the best finish for the Seawolves in their 14-year history.
In the brief 2020 season, Hennan had led her team to a 9-8 record, if the season were to continue and the Seawolves finished above .500, it would've been their first winning season since 2006. They posted impressive wins over Azusa Pacific, Chapman University, and Claremont Mudd-Scripps. They also battled nationally ranked opponents such as Princeton, University of Pacific, and Cal Baptist where each game was decided by 3 goals or fewer. Hennan and her 2020 group were also winners of 7 of their last 8 
matches and were certainly hitting their stride before the cancellation of the spring season due to COVID-19. Chelsea was assisted by Joey Doyle for 3 seasons dating back to the 2018 campaign for Sonoma State. As a collegiate player Doyle was a dual sport athlete, as a member of the swim team and the water polo team during his time at Santa Rosa Junior College. In his two seasons at SRJC Doyle was named First Team All-American, Team Northern California, Team Big 8 Conference in addition to making Dean's Honor. Doyle transferred and continued his collegiate career at the University of the Pacific (UOP), playing under former SRJC Men's Water Polo Coach and NCAA Coach of the Year, James Graham. While at UOP, he was a two-time All MPSF Academic Team member and helped the Tigers to a No. 4 NCAA DI ranking!
Chelsea and Joey will certainly be missed as they both left their print on Sonoma State athletics and the university as a whole. Chelsea was a great presence in the athletic department and was such a positive and influential force for the university. We thank you both for all of your hard work and dedication towards Sonoma State athletics and bettering the university. The seniors that will be mentioned in the senior spotlight for the class of 2020 are Hailey Gellert, Jordan Williams, Cassidy Mundt, and Annika Erickson. Be sure to look for the story in the coming weeks along with the other spring sports.
We thank all the coaches and staff for their endless hard work and dedication towards their student-athletes, to their sport, and to this university. We also thank the previous coaches who helped start these programs and left their everlasting legacy on these sport programs and on our university. There are no words to explain our sympathy and sadness for the current situation. Our hearts are with our coaches and student-athletes during these times as they will never be forgotten and more importantly, they always be a part of the Seawolf family. Thank you again for leaving a lasting imprint on our university and athletics programs in the best way possible. Go Seawolves! 
#NomaNation
