SKILLMAN, NJ – An astounding 12 PBC men’s tennis
players were named All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association (ITA), giving the league more than 1/3 of the
All-Americans recognized. To earn the ITA All-America honor, a
player must be ranked in the final top 20 in singles or top 10 in
doubles. Armstrong Atlantic State and USC Aiken have three
All-Americans each while Columbus State, GCSU and Francis Marion
have two apiece.
AASU senior Paul Bishop earns ITA All-American honors in both
singles and doubles for the first time in his career. The Whitwell,
England, native finished the year ranked No. 20 in singles and
teamed with Mikk Irdoja to finish the year ranked No. 5 in doubles,
earning the All-America nods.
Freshman Eudaldo Bonet finished the year ranked No. 2 in the
nation in singles, earning the Barcelona, Spain, native ITA
All-America singles honors. Irdoja, meanwhile, earns All-American
doubles honors for the first time in his career.
USC Aiken’s Bruno Seves finished the 2009 PBC campaign at
6-2 in league action. The Feb. 24 PBC Men’s Tennis Player of
the Week, Seves is ranked sixth in singles nationally and 22nd in
the nation in doubles. Seves ends his playing career at USC Aiken
with a record of 50-9 in singles matches.
The Pacer’s Edward Horne was also named. Playing mainly at
No. 3 singles in 2009, Horne compiled a 14-5 record in singles in
2009, including a 13-5 record at No. 3 singles. Horne was 1-0 at
No. 1 singles. The Kent, England native ends his Pacer career with
a record of 50-30 in singles.
Dagoberto Darezzo was ranked in doubles with partner Horne and had
a 15-4 record at #1 doubles. The senior from San Carlos, Brazil,
was also 16-5 at #2 singles and was named second-team
All-Conference in both singles and doubles.
Columbus State's doubles tandem of Frank Suarez and Luis Gonzalez
were named All-Americans with a #10 final ranking. The CSU men's
tennis team, who went 17-6 on the year, finished #10 in Division
II, while the CSU women's team finished at #8. This marks the first
time in school history that both programs finished a season ranked
in the top 10 in the country. Suarez/Gonzalez finished the season
with a 13-8 record at #1 doubles for CSU.
GCSU’s Erick Siqueira was named All-American at both singles
and doubles, finishing the year ranked #8 in the nation in singles.
The senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was named the 2008 PBC Player of
the Year and first-team All-Conference in singles and doubles in
2009. Siqueira was 13-5 at #1 singles and 16-3 at #1 doubles with
partner Justin Pickham.
Pickham was also named All-American in both singles and doubles
for GCSU. Named first-team All-Conference in 2009, Pickham was 13-4
at #2 singles as GCSU won the 2009 PBC regular season championship.
A senior from Armidale, Australia, Pickham finished the year ranked
#15 nationally in singles.
FMU’s Oshada Wijemanne, a native of Colombo, Sri Lanka,
compiled a 15-2 singles mark at the No. 1 position and is ranked
ninth nationally. He was 6-1 in the tough PBC and owned a 3-2 mark
against nationally ranked opponents, including a regular-season win
over the top-ranked singles player in Division II.
Dilshod Sharifi partnered with Wijemanne in doubles and was also
named All-America in singles, ranked 18th nationall. Sharifi, a
sophomore from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, was 16-1 at #2 singles, 17-2
overall. He was named second-team All-Conference in singles and
first team in doubles.
2009 ITA
All-America Team
Division II Men's Tennis
(S - Singles, D - Doubles)
Paul Bishop - Armstrong Atlantic State (S, D)
Andrey Boldarev - Concordia (D)
Edualdo Bonet - Armstrong Atlantic State (S)
Julien Carsuzaa - Lynn (S, D)
Dagoberto Darezzo - South Carolina-Aiken (D)
Kevin Ducros - West Florida (S)
David Dueren - Valdosta State (S)
Joerg Ekkenga - Valdosta State (S, D)
Emmanuel Fraitzl - Barry (S, D)
Luis Gonzalez - Columbus State (D)
Alex Grubin - Concordia (S, D)
Florida Halb - Valdosta State (S)
Edward Horne - South Carolina-Aiken (D)
Mikk Irdoja - Armstrong Atlantic State (D)
Leos Jelinek - Valdosta State (D)
Rong Ma - BYU-Hawaii (S)
Jeff Morris - Rollins (D)
Philip Pakebusch - Anderson (S)
Daniel Pazos - Cameron (S)
Justin Pickham - Georgia College & State (S,
D)
Jan Plewinski - Ouachita Baptist (S)
Tomas Racak - Lynn (S)
Allesandro Sarra - Lynn (D)
Bruno Seves - South Carolina-Aiken (S)
Dilshod Sharifi - Francis Marion (S, D)
Erick Siqueira - Georgia College & State (S, D)
Frank Suarez - Columbus State (D)
Ales Svigelj - Barry (S)
Adrian Tan - Rollins (D)
Oshada Wijemanne - Francis Marion (S, D)
Max Winner - Barry (D)
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