Hall of Fame
It is a rare honor for someone to earn induction to the Point Loma Hall of Fame after playing just two years at the school, but if anyone in the history of Sea Lion Athletics deserves that honor it is Mathias Sundberg.
Sundberg earned NAIA first team All-American honors in both 1995 and 1996 but it was what he accomplished those two seasons which makes him a legend in the PLNU men’s tennis history books.
The native of Billdal, Sweden piled up 60 wins in over two seasons, including a record breaking 37-7 record as a senior. Those 37 wins shattered his own school-record for single-season victories of 23 which he set his junior year. That record still stands today as no Sea Lion since has come within 10 wins of Sundberg’s mark. The 60 wins in a two-year span are also a school record.
Sundberg’s 23-1 season is also one of the most remarkable in history. His .958 winning percentage still tops the PLNU single-season charts and it helped him capture the school record for winning percentage with a .822 career mark (60-8).
Sundberg advanced all the way to the finals of the 256-person NAIA Championship Tournament his senior season, picking up seven victories along the way. Sundberg won the Golden State Athletic Conference/District 3 Championship in both of his seasons with the Green & Gold, and was named the Sea Lions’ Most Valuable Player twice.
He was voted the NAIA West Region Player of the Year in 1996 and remains the only Sea Lion male student-athlete to capture the GSAC Championship in back-to-back seasons. Sundberg also became the first Sea Lion to ever win the singles title at the Ojai Independent Tournament (1995).
He would go on to graduate from Point Loma in 1996 with a degree in Business. He and his wife Cara (Overstreet), who also played tennis for the Sea Lions and earned a degree in Athletic Training from PLNU, live in Carlsbad with their three children; Sebastian (12), Izabella (10) and Evelina (7). Mathias is the Sr. Vice President of Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate broker company.
