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4/15/2009 - MEN'S TENNIS
ETSU Tennis Sweeps All-Conference Honors
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Women's All-ConferenceMACON, Ga. - After leading their teams to stellar conference seasons, senior Enrique Olivares and junior Yevgeniya Stupak, both of ETSU, claimed Atlantic Sun Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Player of the Year honors, respectively, the conference office announced. The ETSU sweep marks the first time since FAU in 2002 that players from the same school have scored the award.
Olivares ran through the conference slate without a loss for the third consecutive season in leading his team to the regular season conference crown. Olivares did not drop a conference match in eight starts. Stupak racked up an 8-1 record against league opponents, helping the Lady Bucs to a share of the regular-season title.
Joining Olivares on the men's all-conference first team was another 2008 honoree, Jordi Ballester of Jacksonville. Ballester's teammate, fellow senior Francisco Riveroll joined Ballester on the first team, making them the only set of teammates to earn First-Team recognition. 2008 Freshman of the Year Davy Sum went 6-2 at No. 1 singles for Campbell to claim unanimous First-Team honors. Stetson senior Filip Kricka tallied a 6-3 mark at No. 1 singles to notch a spot on the First-Team, and UNF senior Federico Levi joined him after running up a 7-3 mark. A pair of newcomers rounded out the First-Team in Belmont’s Joao Paoliello and USC Upstate’s Edgar Rodriguez.
Rodriguez added Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year to his hardware as well as a spot on the All-Freshman team. Teammate Ramiro Blanco was also among the All-Freshman selections, along with teammates Sander Gille and Robin Asker (ETSU) and Cesare Gallo, Maksim Levanovich and Njal Stene (Stetson). Belmont’s Rodrigo Amaral and UNF’s Marcos Chiareti capped off the All-Freshman award recipients.
Stupak, ranked 123rd in the nation, earned her third consecutive First-Team selection, while teammate Tara Byrne, ETSU's all-time wins leader, notched her first career First-Team selection. Stetson, the top seed in the A-Sun Tennis Championship set to begin play on Friday, placed Valentina Galbarini on the First-Team. UNF had multiple First-Team honorees with a pair of freshmen, Aline Berkenbrock and Raquel Castro. USC Upstate senior Anna Novo earned her second-straight First-Team selection, while Jacksonville’s Tatiana Soldatova and Kennesaw State’s Vera Shkundina rounded out the honorees.
First-Team selection Berkenbrock joined her male counterpart as both an All-Conference and Freshman of the Year honoree. More than half of the Atlantic Sun institutions appeared on the All-Freshman team, led by two players each from ETSU (Karina Kedzo and Paula Jaime) and USC Upstate (Ana-Sofia Camberos and Cinthya Lazaro). Campbell’s Borislava Nikolova, Stetson’s Shannon Gunning and Shkundina of KSU capped off the All-Freshman selections.
ETSU’s Yaser Zaatini took home men's Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year after leading the Bucs through a sixth consecutive unblemished conference campaign. On the women's side, Stetson head coach Sasha Schmid earned the recognition of her peers for the second consecutive season following an 8-1 Atlantic Sun campaign.
The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.
