Kahler a second-time recipient of the Andy Chase Award; McCusker earns her first Jill Craybas Award, from the USTA state association.
NEWPORT, RI – Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior Kailas Kahler and Vassar College sophomore Erin McCusker have been named the United States Tennis Association Rhode Island’s College Tennis Players of the Year, for the 2023-24 school year.
Kahler, from Pawtucket, earned the Andy Chase Award as the Ocean State’s top male college player for the second straight year.
McCusker, from Norton, Mass., is receiving the Jill Craybas Award, as the state’s female college player of the year for the first time.
Both student-athletes were their respective conference Players of the Year, Kahler for the second straight year in the New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) and McCusker in the Liberty League.
The awards go to the top male and female college players who graduated from a Rhode Island secondary school and played for their school team. They do not necessarily need to play at an in-state college. They will be presented with their awards at the INFOSYS Hall of Fame Open on Monday, July 15.
“This is the 10th year that we are presenting our college player of the year awards,” said Douglas Chapman, president and CEO of USTA Rhode Island. “We hope that it encourages and motivates local players to play college tennis. And we are thrilled to once again be able to present the awards in-state at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.”
JILL CRAYBAS AWARD
ERIN McCUSKER (Vassar) – McCusker finished a sensational sophomore season by being named the 2024 Liberty League Player of the Year. McCusker and doubles partner Macey Dowd were each named First Team All-Conference in both singles and doubles. McCusker earned First Team accolades for the second straight season and qualified for the NCAA Division III Singles Championship in St. Louis. McCusker enters the championship with a 15-4 record in singles play during dual matches and 23-8 overall, exclusively at the top flight, posting the highest win total among first singles players in the conference. McCusker, who qualified for the ITA Cup in the fall after appearing the in ITA Northeast Regional final in both singles and doubles, closed out the 2023-24 season leading the Liberty League in dual match (15) and overall (23) singles victories. McCusker won 12 straight matches from February 24 through April 20 and scored a 6-0, 6-4 win for the Brewers in the Semifinal Round of the 2024 Liberty League Championships. Vassar finished the season with a 16-4 overall record and an unbeaten 8-0 mark against league rivals. Vassar appeared in the Liberty League title match for the seventh straight season in 2023-24.
McCusker earned First Team All-State honors for all four years playing at LaSalle Academy in Providence. She was the RI state individual singles champion as a senior and helped to lead the Rams to four consecutive state team championships. .
McCusker, from Norton, Mass., is majoring in Psychology and Biology.
ANDY CHASE AWARD
KAILAS KAHLER (MIT) – For the second straight year, Kahler has been named the NEWMAC Athlete of the Year while also collecting the Andy Chase Award.
Kahler posted an undefeated record in singles play in the conference at No. 1 singles (4-0) and went 3-0 in NEWMAC Doubles action. Overall, he finished the year ranked 18th overall nationally in D3 singles. He was named also named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-America Singles Team. He is MIT’s first All-American since 2016-17 and 16th overall.
In addition, Kahler earned First Team Academic All-America status.
Off the court, Kahler is an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major and boasts a 4.0 GPA. He is an undergraduate research assistant at the MIT Low-Energy Autonomy and Navigation Group. He has been a course lab assistant in various classes in the MIT EECS Department since 2021. Additionally, he was an ASIC Engineering Intern at Seagate where he wrote python scripts and debugged failing testcases. He also designed a minimal game engine using C++ and OpenGL as a personal project.
As a junior, he was named the NEWMAC Player of the Year, NEWMAC First Team All-Conference as well as the NEWMAC Sportsmanship and Academic All-Conference teams. He was a CSC Third Team Academic All-American, CSC Academic All-District and ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Pawtucket’s Kahler is a 2020 graduate of Moses Brown School, where he earned four varsity letters in tennis, was a team captain and three-time team MVP. He went undefeated in high school singles matches and earned a highest national recruiting ranking of #101.
Kahler is majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
