April 16, 2015 By Hannah Altheide | UTAMavs.com
NEW ORLEANS -- The Sun Belt Conference recognized its Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in men's and women's tennis, and announced the singles and doubles all-conference honorees at the championship banquet on Thursday night. UT Arlington brought home 13 honors, including Elizabeth Thoms' earning first-team all-conference.
The night began with all-academic honors and both the men's and women's team were well represented. Astrid Gehre, Angeles de los Rios, Christine Foote, Jessica Birowski, Stefan Williams and Pablo Colvee each were on the Commissioners List for maintaining a 3.5 and above GPA. Thoms and Ekaterina Tugarinova received academic honor roll for having a GPA between a 3.0-3.49. UTA coach Diego Benitez was able to bring home two awards for both teams having a combined GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Thoms represented UTA with a first-team all-conference honor after an overall record of 12-2 in the regular season and helping the Mavericks to a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. Thoms and de los Rios brought home all-conference doubles first team; Gehre and de los Rios were second-team all-conference in singles.
Despite the being ranked No. 2 in the tournament, Mario Muniesa was the only Maverick from the men's team to be represented with his second-team all-conference honor.
The 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championship begins Thursday morning with the women's opening round. The Mavericks take on Troy tomorrow at 10 a.m. weather permitting. Changes may occur depending on rain and storms so be sure to follow @UTAMavs for updates.
The men are set to play the winner of No. 3 South Alabama and No. 6 Appalachian state Saturday at 3 p.m., weather permitting.
The women's championship match will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m. with the men's championship match to follow at 2 p.m. All matches will take place on the main courts at the City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center in New Orleans, weather permitting.
A full day of matches is scheduled for Friday with men's and women's quarterfinal round matches slated for 8 a.m. Women's quarterfinal action continues at 10 a.m. on Friday. Women's semifinal matches start at 10 a.m. on Saturday and men's semifinal matches follow at 3 p.m.
For more information on the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships, visit the championship central page on SunBeltSports.org. Live scoring will be available for all matches of the tournaments. Admission is free for all matches at the City Park Tennis Center. MEN
Player of the Year
Daniel Leitner (South Alabama)
Freshman of the Year
Scott Webster (Appalachian State)
Sun Belt All-Conference Singles First Team
Ristomatti Lanne (Georgia Southern)
Jannis Koeke (Georgia State)
Daniel Leitner (South Alabama)
Tim Srkala (South Alabama)
Gabriel Dias (Troy)
Hassan Ndayishimye (Troy)
Sun Belt All-Conference Doubles First Team
Gerhard Gruindelingh/Daniel Leitner (South Alabama)
Damian Farinola/Edgar Lopez (UL Lafayette)
Coleman Wahlborg/Jarred Wynan (UL Lafayette)
Sun Belt All-Conference Singles Second Team
- Olivier Casey (Appalachian State)
- Albert Codina Sala (Georgia Southern)
- Andy Lau (Troy)
- Tuki Jacobs (South Alabama)
- Giovani Samaha (Troy)
- Mario Muniesa (UT Arlington)
Sun Belt All-Conference Doubles Second Team
- Andy Lau/Pablo Moreno (Troy)
- Jack Maddocks/Scott Webster (Appalachian State)
- Olivier Casey/Trey Morris (Appalachian State)
WOMEN
Player of the Year
Trang Huynh (Troy)
Freshman of the Year
Anne Kurzweil (Georgia Southern)
Sun Belt All-Conference Singles First Team Tamara Slijepcevic (Arkansas State) Petra Horakova (UL Monroe) Monica Mitta (South Alabama) Laura Valkova (South Alabama) Elizabeth Thoms (UT Arlington) Trang Huynh (Troy)
Sun Belt All-Conference Doubles First Team
Emily Newton/Laura Valkova (South Alabama)
Angeles de los Rios/Elizabeth Thoms (UT Arlington)
Anja Cosovic/Trang Huynh (Troy)
Sun Belt All-Conference Singles Second Team Clare Cox (Appalachian State) Anne Kurzweil (Georgia Southern) Linn Timmermann (Georgia State) Emily Newton (South Alabama) Astrid Gehre (UT Arlington) Angeles de los Rios (UT Arlington)
Sun Belt All-Conference Doubles Second Team
Tarani Kamoe/Linn Timmermann (Georgia State)
Niri Rasolomalala/Kristin Rehse (Georgia State)
Petra Horakova/Sophie Rufyikiri (UL Monroe)
