Thursday, April 19, 2007

Macon, Ga. – In just his first season as a member of the Stetson Hatters tennis team, Hicham Laalej collected a conference-best 21 wins, and claimed the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year honors as voted by the league’s head coaches.

The freshman from Meknes, Morocco, began the season playing at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions, but quickly earned a No. 2 spot on the team before making his first appearance in No. 1 singles on March 5. Since then, Laalej has rattled of a 12-0 record at the No. 1 slot and twice dropped down to play at the No. 2 position. Laalej combined for a 21-3 record during the regular season and has twice had winning streaks of seven, including the current streak he carries into the 2007 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tennis Championships.

His honors mark the second time in league history that the same individual has been named both Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year. In 2002, Georgia State’s Matias Ormaza received both honors, and most recently, Troy’s Irving Morales was dubbed both the Freshman and Player of the Year in 2004. It also marks the second time in A-Sun history that the honor has gone to the same school in back-to-back seasons with a different member of the team earning the award. In 2000, FAU’s Juan Ros was named the A-Sun Player of the Year and just one year later his teammate, Doug Devriendt was honored with the same award. Last season, Stetson’s Marcus Echtler earned Player of the Year honors.

Laalej has also earned a First Team All-Atlantic Sun spot for his efforts during the regular season. He is joined by Marcus Echtler (Stet), Enrique Olivares (ETSU), Jordi Ballester (JU), Matias Sigal (UNF), Evgeny Slesarev (GWU), Alex Gillot (Bel) and Predrag Burmoazovic (ETSU).

The two freshmen, Laalej and Slesarev, along with Ballester, Sigal, Gillot, and Burmazovic are making their first appearance on the First Team, while Olivares and Echtler are making their second and third appearances, respectively.

The remaining individual award, Coach of the Year, went to Campbell’s David Johnson. Johnson led his men to a 13-9 record, including a 9-1 mark on their home courts. The only home loss of the year for Johnson and his Campbell squad came against ETSU, which finished atop the A-Sun standings. In conference action, Johnson guided the Fighting Camels to a 4-4 mark.

Gabriel Delarue (Campbell), Felix Insaurralde (ETSU), Marc Sifre (Cam), Filip Krica (Stet), Tobias Ohrstrom (Mer), Eduardo Pereira (UNF), Javier Ferrin (UNF), and Sergui Boulanov (Stet) comprised the second team. The group includes three sophomores, four juniors and a senior.

From the first team, Laalej and Slesarev join Viktor Taune (Cam), Daniel Hangstefer (Lip), Daniel Isaza (ETSU), Ernesto Ramos (JU), Grant Van Rensburg (GWU) and Victor Vaz (JU) to form the 2007 All-Freshman squad.

The 2007 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tennis Championships kick off on Friday in Johnson City, Tenn.