FRISCO, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana senior
Guillaume Capovin was named the 2009 Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Newcomer of the Year and was one of four Lions named to the All-Southland Conference Teams in an announcement from the league office on Thursday.
In addition to the newcomer honors, Capovin was selected to the second team at the No. 5 singles position. Freshman
Jan Bezdecka was named to the second team at the No. 6 spot. The Lions’ No. 3 doubles pair of sophomore
Julien Roussel and freshman
Damien Cordoba was also placed on the second team.
“We’re very proud to be represented well on the All-Southland Conference teams,” Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes commented. “When he first arrived on campus, Guillaume was not all the way where he needed to be, but he worked hard to become our most consistent singles player. I’m confident that he was honored by the league’s coaches and sports information directors for not only his ability, but the class and dignity with which he handles himself on the court. We wish we could have him for more than just one year.
“On the other hand, our other three All-SLC student-athletes are a sophomore and two freshmen, which indicates that our program has a bright future,” Hayes added. “All three of them worked hard and we expect them to continue to improve as their careers progress.”
Capovin finished the 2009 regular season with a team-best 15-5 singles record. In Southland Conference play, he was 4-2. Bezdecka combined with Capovin to give Southeastern a solid pair at the bottom of the singles draw, finishing with a 4-2 mark in SLC play.
Roussel and Cordoba began playing as a team late in the spring. The pair combined for a 4-1 overall mark, including a 3-1 record against league competition.
Texas-Pan American’s Ashwin Vijayaragavan was named the league’s Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year honors went to Mindaugas Celedinas of Texas-Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Steve Moore was tabbed SLC Coach of the Year.
The All-Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Teams were selected by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
The Lions will open play at the Southland Conference Tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday. Fourth-seeded Southeastern will play No. 5 seed UT Arlington at 9:30 a.m. in a first-round match.
2009 All-Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Teams
First Team
Singles
No. 1 – Ashwin Vijayaragavan – Texas-Pan American – So. – Andhrapadesh, India
No. 2 – Dmitry Novikov – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Jr. – Minsk, Belarus
No. 3 – Laurent Montoisy – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – So. – Lanse, Belgium#
No. 3 – Abhaya Prakash – Nicholls State – Sr. – India#
No. 4 – Jose Zunino – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Sr. – Guayaquil, Ecuador
No. 5 – Beau Bernstein – Texas-Pan American – Sr. – Sugar Land, Texas
No. 6 – Gonzalo Bienzobas – UT Arlington – Jr. – San Felipe, Chile
Doubles
No. 1 – Alex Pavlov/Dmitry Novikov – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Fr./Jr. – Moscow, Russia/Minsk, Belarus
No. 2 – Laurent Montoisy/Jose Zunino – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – So./Sr. – Lanse, Belgium/Guayaquil, Ecuador
No. 3 – Mario Janic/Diego Snyder – Lamar – Sr./So. – Split, Croatia/New Braunfels, Texas
Second Team
Singles
No. 1 – Mindaugas Celedinas – UT Arlington – Fr. – Vilnius, Lithuania
No. 2 – Andre Moreira – UTSA – Sr. – Campinas, Brazil
No. 4 – David Subirats – UT Arlington – Fr. – Edificio Antonio Valino, Spain
No. 5 – Guillaume Capovin – Southeastern Louisiana – Sr. – France
No. 6 – Jan Bezdecka – Southeastern Louisiana – Fr. – Czech Republic
Doubles
No. 1 Abhaya Prakash/Radu Ionescu – Nicholls State – Sr./So. – India/Bucharest, Romania
No. 2 Pedro Zanotelli/Max Strattman – UTSA – Fr./So. – Forteleza, Brazil/Bonn, Germany
No. 3 Damien Cordoba/Julien Roussel – Southeastern Louisiana – Fr./So. – France/France
Player of the Year: Ashwin Vijayaragavan, Texas-Pan American
Freshman of the Year: Mindaugas Celedinas, UT Arlington
Newcomer of the Year: Guillaume Capovin, Southeastern Louisiana
Coach of the Year: Steve Moore, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi