Hilton Head’s Hayley Carter named Honda Award finalist for college tennis

Hilton Head Island’s Hayley Carter, runner-up in singles at last weekend’s NCAA Championships, has been named as one of four finalists for the Honda Sport Award in college women’s tennis.

The North Carolina junior, who held the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles for most of the spring, lost just four singles matches all year before succumbing to Virginia’s Danielle Collins in last Monday’s NCAA final.

Carter finished with a 49-5 singles record on the year and 36-7 in doubles, where she and partner Whitney Kay reached the NCAA semifinals. The Smith Stearns Academy product finished No. 2 in the ITA’s year-end singles rankings and third in doubles.

“Thank you to everyone for all of your support this past week and for all of the amazing messages I have received,” she told her Twitter followers last Monday. “I’m sad I wasn’t able to bring back the NCAA title to Chapel Hill, but I can’t be upset for too long when I realize I get to play for the best school in the world.”

Carter also was the ACC Player of the Year and MVP of the ACC Tournament, and she earned her third ITA All-America honor.

Honda Award nominees were selected by a combination of NCAA finish and season rankings. Collins, whose NCAA singles title was her second in three years, also is a finalist along with Ohio State’s Francesca DiLorenzo and Pepperdine’s Luisa Stefani.

The winner will be announced next week after voting by administrators from more than 1,000 NCAA member schools. Tennis is one of 12 women’s sports honored by Honda, with the winner in each sport becoming a finalist for the Honda Cup that honors college sports’ top female athlete.

This story was originally published June 4, 2016 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Hilton Head’s Hayley Carter named Honda Award finalist for college tennis."