Landmark Coaches Take Notice of Caracappa, Kincaid

TOWSON, Md. — Goucher claimed two of the three major awards that the head coaches voted on when they cast their ballots for the 2016 All-Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Team.

The eight head coaches, according to an official announcement by the conference issued this morning, selected head coach Brendan Kincaid and assistant Matt Bilger as Coaching Staff of the Year and sophomore Joey Caracappa (Smithtown, N.Y./Saddlebrook Preparatory School) as Player of the Year.

Vineet Vemulapally from Drew was named Rookie of the Year.

In just his fourth season as head coach, Kincaid guided the squad to a 17-4 record during the regular season, the most wins in a season in the 28-year history of Goucher's men's tennis program. When the Gophers knocked off Scranton, 5-0, in the Landmark Conference semifinals, he surpassed Rob Hubbard (2000-05) as Goucher's all-time winningest head men's tennis coach.

Caracappa is the third male tennis player from Goucher to earn conference Player of the Year honors. The other two were Chris Akin in 1991 and Brandon Harris in 2005, both when the school was a member of the Capital Athletic Conference.

Caracappa went 7-2 at first singles in 2015-16 (not including postseason) for the Gophers, with one of those wins being a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Juniata's Dean Polisena, the two-time defending Landmark Conference Player of the Year.

Goucher placed four players on the 2016 All-Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Team, filling three of the six spots on the first team for singles and one on the second team.

The first-team selections based on performance in singles competition were Caracappa, sophomore Jack Hodges (London, England/Shrewsbury School), and senior Seth Hoesman (Ellicott City, Md./Howard). Midori Fujitani (Tokyo, Japan/International School Bangkok) was placed on the All-Landmark second team.

This is the second year in a row that Caracappa was a first-team selection for singles play.

Hodges moved up to first team after being placed on the second team in 2014-15. He carried a 15-4 singles record into the Landmark Conference playoffs, winning seven times at No. 1 and eight at No. 2.

Hoesman, who finished the regular season on a 17-match winning streak, is an all-conference performer in singles for the fourth time in his career, third as a first-team honoree. He became the all-time leader in singles victories at Goucher when he defeated Scranton's Matt Prendergast 6-3, 6-1 on May 4, giving him win No. 60.

This is Fujitani's first all-conference nod for singles play. As a sophomore, he is 19-2 this season.

The same four players were also All-Landmark selections in doubles competition as Goucher produced two of three doubles teams that were awarded first-team honors.

The duo of Caracappa and Hoesman are repeaters on the first team. They've gone 13-3 in 2015-16, playing exclusively at No. 1. The doubles team of Hodges and Fujitani moved up from the second team in 2014-15 by going 17-4 this season.

Click HERE for the 2016 All-Landmark Conference Men's Tennis Team.