FRISCO, Texas — Lamar University sophomore Max Amling has been named Southland Conference Player of the Year announced league officials Wednesday afternoon. He becomes the third Cardinal in as many seasons to receive conference player of the year honors and is one of two Cardinals to receive All-Southland Conference recognition.
In addition to his player of the year honor and first-team nod at No. 1 singles, Amling also received second-team all-conference recognition at No. 1 doubles along with teammate Filippo Salsini.
Amling becomes the fourth different Cardinal to be named conference player of the year under the direction of head coach Scott Shankles and the third in as many seasons. He
joins a growing list of Cardinal athletes to receive the league’s top honor, including Daniel Sancho Arbizu (2022 – WAC), Axel Vila Antuna (2021) and Michael Feucht (2016).
Amling steamrolled his way through the regular season posting a 12-5 (.706) overall record, including an 11-5 (.647) mark at the No. 1 position. He advanced through the entire conference schedule posting a perfect 5-0 record at the No. 1 spot and ended the year winning seven of his final 10 matches.
Amling joined Salsini to form one of the top duos in the league. The Cardinal tandem was 12-5 (.706) on the year, including an 11-5 (.647) record at line 1. Winning seven of their final 10 matches during the 2023 regular season, the duo posted a near perfect 4-1 doubles record in SLC play.
The fifth-seeded Cardinals will open Southland Conference tournament play Thursday against No. 4-seed NJIT. The match against the Highlanders is set to begin at 2 p.m. from the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center in Corpus Christi.