April 18, 2008
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The UWF Men's tennis team dominated the major GSC awards this week, as Nicolas Barrientos was tabbed the Player of the year, while Patrick Bateman was announced Freshman of the year. The Argos as a team enter the GSC tournament as the number one seed from the East, ranked third nationally. Eduardo Cavasotti also earned All-GSC accolades, as he and his teammates try to defend their GSC Championship from a year ago.
The Gulf South Conference announced its 2008 Men's Tennis All-Conference Team on Friday, just one day before the conference tournament kicks off in Montgomery, Alabama. Six schools were represented, led by Ouachita Baptist which posted four players. North Alabama and Valdosta State added three apiece, while Delta State, Harding and West Florida placed two. However, the Argos had three total athletes with awards.
For the first time since 2002, the East Division individual honorees came from the same school. Senior Nicolas Barrientos became third consecutive UWF player to be named the GSC East Division Player of the Year. Patrick Bateman was selected GSC East Division Freshman of the Year. Bateman is the first Argonaut since 2005 to win the award. Barrientos was 13-5 in singles matches this season, while Bateman was 12-0, playing mostly at the number 5 and number 6 singles slot. Barrientos and Bateman teamed up for 19 wins in doubles play this season.
For the third consecutive season, Ouachita Baptist swept the GSC West Division individual awards. Ondrej Vana became the first player ever to claim back-to-back GSC West Division Player of the Year laurels, while also marking the fifth straight time a Tiger took home the award. Jan Plewinski was tabbed the GSC West Division Freshman of the Year, marking the fourth consecutive Ouachita Baptist player to garner the honor.
The 2008 All-GSC Team is headlined by four three-time First Team standouts--Valdosta State's Leos Jelinek, West Florida's Eduardo Cavasotti, Delta State's Rafael Weigard and Ouachita Baptist's Ondrej Vana. The squad also includes four two-time winners. VSU's Joerg Ekkenga, UWF's Nicolas Barrientos and Harding's Marco Ruiz return from last year's First Team, while OBU's Jakub Smid appears after a one-year absence. Cavasotti was the Argos number 1 singles player for most of the season, and was 8-5 at the number 1 spot, and 9-7 overall in singles play.
West Florida will open play in the conference tournament against the West Division fourth seeded Christian Brothers, with the match starting at 8:30 am Saturday morning. Five of the nation's Top 32 teams headline this weekend's eight-team, Gulf South Conference Men's Tennis Championship Tournament. The two-day tournament begins with the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals Saturday, April 19 and ending with the Finals Sunday, April 20 at Lagoon Park and O'Conner Tennis Center in Montgomery, Ala.
Defending champion and No. 1 East seed West Florida is among a strong field, entering the weekend ranked No. 3 in the ITA Division II Top 45. Not to be overlooked is No. 2 Valdosta State (No. 3 East seed) and No. 8 Ouachita Baptist (No. 1 West seed). No. 27 Delta State (No. 2 West seed) and No. 32 North Alabama (No. 2 East seed) rounds out the nationally ranked contingent. The rest of the field includes No. 3 West seed Harding and the No. 4 East seed West Alabama and No. 4 West seed Christian Brothers.
Seven nationally-ranked singles players five of the top doubles teams will also take the courts. VSU has three ranked singles with No. 4 Florian Halb, No. 10 Joerg Ekkenga and No. 14 Leos Jelinek. UWF and OBU follow with two each, No. 17 Eduardo Cavasotti and No. 27 Nicolas Barrientos from the Argos and No. 9 Ondra Vana and No. 26 Jan Plewinski.
The Nation's top ranked doubles squad, the Blazers' Ekkenga and Jelinek, join four other Top 25 pairs: No. 10 Vana/Jakub Smid (OBU), No. 13 Cavasotti/Luis Arboleda (UWF), No. 17 Carlos Cardenas/Zac Bereznicki (UNA) and No. 18 Barrientos/Patrick Batman (UWF). Barrientos and Bateman are 19-2 overall this season in dual match doubles contests.
