BOSTON – Over the next few weeks, GoSuffolkRams.com will look at the student-athletes, coach and team to be inducted into the Suffolk University Athletics Hall of Fame that has its next induction ceremony this October. The fourth installment features two-time GNAC Player of the Year, women’s tennis' Jennifer Nelson, BSBA ’08.
A four-year letterwinner, Nelson was an all-around player, who the team wanted out on the court when the match was tied.
A staple on the blue-and-gold’s top courts as a freshman, she led the Rams to 5-4 overall record in 2004, which included a 5-3 mark versus Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) competition.
It was her sophomore and junior campaigns, respectively, that solidified Nelson’s spot as an all-time Suffolk great. Not only did the squad improve on their win totals with a 7-5 ledger in 2005 and an 8-5 record in 2006, but she proved to be a fierce competitor in the upper half of the singles ladder and a main ingredient on a top doubles team. For that, she took home back-to-back GNAC Player of the Year honors, the first Ram in program history to do so. On top of that, she scooped up a pair of All-GNAC First-Team recognitions as well in each of those seasons.
Nelson proved to save her best for last. She was an integral part to the unforgettable and unbeaten 2007 team, that posted a 14-0 record, and captured the GNAC regular-season and tournament titles. The productive force in both singles and doubles play pushed the Rams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
The squad was not the only success story in 2007 as Nelson competed in the third singles flight as a senior at the New England Championships. At regionals, she won the first round before ultimately being eliminated in the second.
October will be the second time Nelson hears her name called as part of Suffolk’s University’s Hall of Fame Class as she was enshrined alongside her 2007 teammates, the most successful women’s tennis squad in University history, in 2016.
Nelson is the third women’s tennis player to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame, first since Heather (Orkney) Swann in 2015.
The 2024 Suffolk University Hall of Fame Class features four men, three women and one team representing six different athletic programs.
On October 18, the Suffolk University Athletics Hall of Fame, which held its first induction ceremony in 2007, will increase in size to 79 members broken down by 59 student-athletes, five head coaches, 11 teams and four special honorees.
The 2024 Suffolk University Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 18 at Suffolk University’s Sargent Hall’s Keches Room, 120 Tremont Street, Boston, at 6:00 p.m. Tickets to the event can be purchased here.
THE SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
The Suffolk University Athletics Hall of Fame will recognize the outstanding achievements of former athletes, coaches and others who have played a most significant role in the history of athletics at our University.
For a more insider’s look at the 2024 Suffolk University Athletics Hall of Fame Class be on the lookout for the Hall of Fame series, which will be published on GoSuffolkRams.com leading up to the event. Specific publication dates on inductees are below:
- Tuesday, Sept. 10 – Winston Daley, BSBA ’02 – Men’s Basketball
- Thursday, Sept. 19 – Erin McAndrews, BS ’14 – Softball
- Tuesday, Sept. 24 – Cary McConnell – Baseball
- Thursday, Sept. 26 - Jennifer Nelson, BSBA '08 - Women's Tennis
- Tuesday, Oct. 1 – Ben Rollins, BSE ’13 – Men’s Soccer
- Thursday, Oct. 3 - Jennifer (Ruys) Baker, BS ’14 – Women’s Basketball
- Tuesday, Oct. 8 – Jake Stahl, BSBA ’53 – Men’s Basketball
- Thursday, Oct. 10 – 1947 Baseball Team