Cleveland, Ohio (May 3) - The Mid-American Conference men's tennis all-conference team was
announced with tournament champion Ball State dominating the squad with three
first-team selections.
The Cardinals placed MAC Player of the Year Ryan Baxter, as well as Jason Pressel and Andrew Seni on the first-team. They were joined by Western Michigan's Fernando Garcia, Bowling Green's Vitek Wild and Toledo's Jorge Morales.
Western Michigan landed three among the second team all-MAC selections. The Broncos' Steve Pillon, Ryan Tomlinson and Kyle Gernhofer comprised half of the six second squad honorees. Bowling Green's Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo and Geoff Hiscox and Eastern Michigan's Jason Yue were named to the remaining three posts.
As announced last week prior to the league championship, Ball State's Ryan Baxter was named MAC Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year was awarded to Bowling Green freshman Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo and Coach of the Year was shared by Western Michigan's Dave Morin and Eastern Michigan's Tony Martin. The Jack Vredevelt Sportsmanship Award went to Western Michigan's Kyle Gernhofer.
The All-MAC team, Newcomer of the Year, Player of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards were voted on by the league's ten head coaches.
In the Jack Vredevelt Sportsmanship Award voting, the players were judged by their MAC peers as displaying the most outstanding sportsmanship in MAC competition. The award is named in honor of the former WMU player and coach who won MAC singles titles four consecutive years (1952-53-54-55) and was honored as MAC Coach of the Year in 1975, 1981, 1991 and 1996.
First Team All MAC
Name School Cl. Hometown
Ryan Baxter Ball State Sr. Durban, South Africa
Jason Pressel Ball State So. Cincinnati, Ohio
Fernando Garcia Western Michigan Jr. Cali, Colombia
Vitek Wild Bowling Green So. Prague, Czech Republic
Jorge Morales Toledo Sr. Caracus, Venezuela
Andrew Seni Ball State So. Kettering, Ohio
Second Team All-MAC
Name School Cl. Hometown
Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo Bowling Green Fr. Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Steve Pillon Western Michigan Jr. Port Huron, Mich.
Ryan Tomlinson Western Michigan Jr. Three Rivers, Mich.
Geoff Hiscox Bowling Green Fr. London, Ontario
Jason Yue Eastern Michigan Sr. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Kyle Gernhofer Western Michigan Sr. Traverse City, Mich.