Men's @ASUNTennis All-Conference Awards Announced; FGCU's Johnson Tabbed Player of the Year
Men's @ASUNTennis All-Conference Awards Announced; FGCU's Johnson Tabbed Player of the Year
Men's Tennis All-Conference Honors
ATLANTA, Ga. - For the second season in-a-row, FGCU's Magnus Johnson claimed the ASUN Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Year award highlighting the All-Conference awards and superlatives as voted on by the league's head coaches, the league office announced on Thursday. A Liberty duo garnered the league's Doubles Pair of the Year for the second-straight season as Nicaise Muamba and Rafael Marques Da Silva won the honor while Stetson's Tristan Dumas was named Freshman of the Year and Kennesaw State Head Coach Matt Emery was voted as Coach of the Year after helping the Owls claim a share of the program's first league title.
Johnson is the second Eagle in program history to claim back-to-back Player of the Year accolades joining Jordi Vives (2014-15) to win the award for FGCU. The Naples, Fla., native posted a league-high 16 wins this season, going 16-3 at the top flight in Singles and earning 11 victories with Max Damm in Doubles competitions. Johnson helped guide the Eagles to a four-match win streak to close out the regular season with a share of their fourth regular-season championship and a No. 72 ITA ranking. FGCU enters the ASUN Championship (April 22-24) as the top seed on their home court in Fort Myers, Fla.
Liberty's Muamba and Da Silva posted a 9-5 record as a pair with a 6-2 mark on Court 1 to earn Doubles Pair of the Year honors, Muamba and Da Silva boast a 5-1 league record helping the Flames close out the season with four-straight victories and earn the #4 seed in the tournament. The Flames enter championship weekend as the highest-ranked ASUN men's team with a No. 67 ranking from ITA.
Dumas represents the Stetson Hatters' program as the ASUN Freshman of the Year, the third such honor in program history. Dumas collected eight solo wins and three doubles victories while playing alongside Alexandre Hillhouse, Diogo Marques and Ervin Eminefendic in his Freshman campaign. The France native earned five victories while playing at the No. 2 position in the Hatters' order.
Emery is the first coach in Kennesaw State program history to be named Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to a 15-5 record and a share of the regular-season title with a 7-1 mark in the competitions this season. Emery has led five double-digit Singles winners this season and has earned three teams ITA rankings during the season coming in as high as No. 70. The Owls enter the ASUN Championship with a No. 75 ITA ranking as the tournament's No. 2-seed where they await the winner of #3 Liberty and #6 Jacksonville State in a Semifinal match on Saturday.
Player of the Year: Magnus Johnson, FGCU
Doubles Pair of the Year: Nicaise Muamba & Rafael Marques Da Silva, Liberty
Freshman of the Year: Tristan Dumas, Stetson
Coach of the Year: Matt Emery, Kennesaw State
ASUN First Team All-Conference
*Magnus Johnson, FGCU, R-So., Naples, Fla.
*Josh Wilson, Liberty, Jr., Reigate, United Kingdom
Raul Garcia, Kennesaw State, So., Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Matthew Terry, Kennesaw State, Gr., Alpharetta, Ga.
Jonas Hartenstein, North Florida, So., Berlin, Germany
Diogo Marques, Stetson, Sr., Setubal, Portugal
ASUN Second Team All-Conference
Cole Groetsch, Bellarmine, Sr., Chalfont, Pa.
Marcelo Sepulveda, FGCU, So., Monterrey, Mexico
Randy Wilson, FGCU, So., Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Rafael Marques Da Silva, Liberty, So., Sao Paulo, Brazil
Nicaise Muamba, Liberty, Sr., Laval, Quebec, Canada
Matt Carroll, North Florida, Jr., Hertfordshire, England
Nilo Duarte, North Florida, Sr., Barcelona, Spain
ASUN All-Freshmen Team
*Tristan Dumas, Stetson, Nice, France
*Hugo Salmeron, Kennesaw State, Barcelona, Spain
Jack Batchelor, Bellarmine, York, England
Vicente Arbelaez, Jacksonville State, Cali, Colombia
Ervin Eminefendic, Stetson, Turin, Italy
Sami Ozzor, Stetson, Daytona, Fla.
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