Alumni Spotlight: Pinkney named SIAC Player of the Year

Alumni Spotlight: Pinkney named SIAC Player of the Year
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

Former ICC men's tennis player Nathanial Pinkney was recently named Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Player of the Year.

The Southaven native finished the regular season with a 9-10 record as the No. 1 singles Player for Benedict College (SC). He was 8-1 in conference matches where he recorded a 7-1 mark in the top spot and was 1-0 in the No. 2 position.

Pinkney helped lead Benedict to its second-straight men's tennis championship and was SIAC Tournament Most Valuable Player after capturing two points in the Tigers' 6-1 victory over Morehouse College.

He also was named Co-Most Valuable Player along with teammate Quentin Eloise (Martinique, France) during Benedict's athletic awards banquet.

Benedict travel to Saint Leo University (FL) on Sunday, May 8 to take on the top ranked Lions in the NCAA Division II Tennis Championship. The winner will face the winner between West Florida and Lynn on Monday, 9.

Pinkney helped guide the ICC men's tennis team to the 2016 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) title and back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 championships.

As a freshman, he won the MACJC and Region 23 championships in No. 1 singles and teamed with Austin McElwain (Corinth) to win the No. 1 doubles titles. That season the Indians finished 15th in the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament. Pinkney advanced to the Round of 16 of the No. 1 singles championship bracket and the championship match of the No. 1 doubles consolation bracket.

As a sophomore, Pinkney and the Indians finished 13th in the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament and earned the program's highest final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranking at No. 13 in the country. He earned the highest ranking amongst MACJC players at No. 22 in singles and No. 13 in doubles.  

The Alumni Spotlight is brought to you by the ICC Alumni Association.

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