New Faces, Same Standards: ICC Men’s Tennis Starts 2026 With Six Freshmen

FULTON, Miss. – Itawamba Community College opens the 2026 men's tennis season with a new-look roster and a recent track record that speaks for itself.

The Indians are coming off a 13-4 finish in 2024-25, including an 8-2 mark in conference play. ICC advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament and finished 22nd overall, a postseason benchmark that now shapes the expectations for the next group.

ICC will lean on a six-man freshman class in 2025-26, a mix that blends international experience with in-state familiarity. Andrea Cattaneo of Italy and Josué Segrellles Tronchoni of Spain give the lineup two international additions capable of impacting multiple positions in the order. Andrej Tasevski arrives with a sports academy background and projects as a competitor who can handle the day-to-day demands of the dual-match grind.

Jacob Christ and Matthew Durrett, both from New Albany, add continuity to the group as a potential pairing option in doubles while also providing depth in singles. Kole Kusek, from Hernando, rounds out the roster and adds another piece for lineup flexibility as ICC builds its best combinations.

For a roster this young, the early season will be defined by lineup development. Establishing reliable singles positions matters, but the doubles point often sets the tone in dual matches. ICC's first month should quickly identify which pairings hold under pressure and which players can deliver at the top and middle of the order.

ICC is scheduled to open the season Feb. 6 at UT Southern, then face Cumberland later that day at the same site. The following week features an exhibition at Huntingdon College on Feb. 14, along with a match against Coastal Alabama-South.

Conference play begins to take shape late in February with a road stretch at Meridian (Feb. 20), Hinds (Feb. 24) and Mississippi Gulf Coast (Feb. 27). March brings a busy home slate that includes Holmes (March 3), Southwest Mississippi (March 6), Northwest Mississippi (March 20), East Central (March 27) and Jones (March 31), plus a nonconference match with Weatherford (March 7) and a road date at Copiah-Lincoln (March 24).

With six freshmen, ICC's ceiling will be tied to how quickly the group settles into a dependable doubles structure and a stable singles ladder. Last season's results showed ICC can win consistently and earn a spot on the national stage. This spring will be about translating that program momentum into production from a new lineup as the MACCC schedule intensifies.