BATON ROUGE – Southeastern Louisiana men's tennis student-athlete Vladimir
Paunic added to his long list of postseason honors on Wednesday, as he was named
to the 2008 All-Louisiana Men's Tennis Team, released by the Louisiana Sports
Writers Association.
Paunic, a senior from Novi Sad, Serbia, represented the Lions as a first team
selection. The 2006 Louisiana Newcomer of the Year, Paunic was named to the
All-Louisiana team as a first team choice for the third straight season.
Wednesday's honor was the latest in a series of accolades received by Paunic,
who has been rewarded for his work on and off the court. Paunic was a first team
All-Southland Conference selection at No. 2 singles following the regular
season. In addition, he became the 10th student-athlete in school history to
earn Academic All-America honors. Paunic, who graduated with a 3.909 grade point
average in finance, was selected as the Southland Conference Men's Tennis
Student-Athlete of the Year and was a first team selection to both the Academic
All-District and SLC All-Academic teams.
Paunic's work on the court was equally impressive, as he was 15-6 in singles
play. His record as a senior pushed his career singles mark to 52-9 – good
enough for 14th in school history.
LSU swept the state's individual awards. Michael Venus earned Player and
Newcomer of the Year honors, Sebastian Carlsson was tabbed the state's top
freshman and Jeff Brown was named Coach of the Year.
The All-Louisiana Men's Tennis Team is selected by the state's sports
information directors.
2008 All-Louisiana Men's Tennis Team
First Team
Name, School
Piotrek Bana, Louisiana-Lafayette
Sebastian Carlsson, LSU
Kevin Dessauer, LSU
Vladimir Paunic, Southeastern Louisiana
Nicholas Rufykiri, Grambling
Michael Venus, LSU
Honorable Mention: Radu Ionescu, Nicholls State, Miroslav Vukicevic, Xavier
Player of the Year: Michael Venus, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Michael Venus, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Sebastian Carlsson, LSU
Coach of the Year: Jeff Brown, LSU
