BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State’s Barry Gorman has been selected as the Little East Conference Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year after a vote of each of the league’s nine coaches.

Under the watchful eye of Gorman, Bridgewater captured the program’s second Little East Women’s Tennis Tournament championship in the past four years. The Bears established a new program record for victories with a 14-1 record, eclipsing the previous mark of 13 set in 1986 (13-1) and equaled in 1989 (13-0).

Bridgewater earned a share of the conference’s regular season title and the second seed in the Little East Tournament with a 7-1 mark. The Bears booked their third-straight appearance in the conference championship match by defeating Salem State, 5-2, in the semifinals. The victory over the Vikings made Gorman the all-time winningest coach in Bridgewater State program-history. The Bears avenged their lone regular season loss with a dominating 5-0 victory over UMass Dartmouth in the tournament title match.

Three Bridgewater State student-athletes earned all-conference honors under Gorman this season as freshmen Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, Mass.) and Alison Joseph (Dartmouth, Mass.) and junior Bridget Murphy (Mattapoisett, Mass.) were also first team recipients at third, sixth and fifth singles respectively.

By virtue of the Little East Tournament championship, Bridgewater earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Tournament which will take place next May. 

In three seasons at the helm of the Bears’ women’s tennis program, Gorman has directed his teams to an impressive overall record of 38-9.