NEW ORLEANS — Antoine Richard and Catalin Fifea, who helped Xavier University of Louisiana continue its men's tennis success after enrolling in January, have earned high honors on the 2016-17 All-Louisiana collegiate team.
Richard was chosen to the first team, and Fifea was named Newcomer of the Year. A Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel of sports information directors selected the teams, which the LSWA announced late Saturday.
Richard, a freshman from Laval, Quebec, and a graduate of Le Tremplin, was 9-5 in singles and 10-3 in doubles during the regular season and holds top-10 ITA NAIA rankings in singles and doubles.
Fifea, a junior from Bucharest, Romania, a graduate of General School No. 31 and a transfer from VCU, is 10-2 and ranked 34th in singles. In doubles he is 9-6 and ranked 21st. Fifea and Pierre Andrieu defeated NCAA Division III's No. 1 doubles team — Emory's David Omsky and Jonathan Jemison — 9-8 at Emory in February.
Richard and Fifea helped the Gold Rush replace two departed NAIA first-team All-Americans from a year ago and remain No. 2 in every NAIA coaches poll. The XULA men were NAIA runner-up in 2016.
Fifea and teammate Karan Salwan received All-Louisiana honorable mention, as did the Gold Nuggets' Charlene Goreau on the women's team. A year ago Salwan made the first team, and Goreau was on the second team.
This is the ninth consecutive year that the Gold Rush produced a first-team All-Louisiana player, and it's the second straight year and fifth time in eight years that the XULA men have the state's top newcomer. A year ago Salwan was Newcomer of the Year. Richard is the second XULA freshman and the first since Kyle Montrel (2012-13) to make the first team.
Xavier was runner-up in voting for the major awards three times — Richard for Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year and Alan Green for men's Coach of the Year.
Both XULA teams will play in the round of 16 Wednesday at the NAIA National Championships in Mobile, Ala. The Gold Rush will play Reinhardt or SCAD Savannah at 9 a.m., and the Gold Nuggets will play Indiana Wesleyan or Asbury at 1 p.m.
2016-17 All-Louisiana Tennis
WOMEN
FIRST TEAM
Jade Lewis, freshman, LSU
Elena Muller, sophomore, Tulane
Petra Horakova, senior, Louisiana-Monroe
Ivone Alvaro, freshman, Tulane
Trang Dao, sophomore, New Orleans
Joana Valle Costa, senior, LSU
SECOND TEAM
Stefana Andrei, junior, Louisiana-Monroe
Tiffany Mylonas, sophomore, Louisiana-Monroe
Hannah Brett, junior, McNeese State
Ryann Foster, junior, LSU
Jazmin Britos, senior, Louisiana Tech
Nadja Manjon, freshman, Louisiana Tech
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jade Lewis, LSU
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Stefana Andrei, Louisiana-Monroe
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Jade Lewis, LSU
COACH OF THE YEAR: Terrence De Jongh, Louisiana-Monroe
HONORABLE MENTION: Madalina Grigoriu, Louisiana-Monroe; Judit Castillo, Northwestern State; Claudette Gilhespie, New Orleans; Charlene Goreau, XULA; Sara Andrade, LSU-Alexandria.
MEN
FIRST TEAM
Constantin Schmitz, junior, Tulane
Jordan Daigle, senior, LSU
Justin Butsch, senior, LSU
Antoine Richard, freshman, XULA
Ewan Moore, freshman, Tulane
Sebastian Rey, senior, Tulane
SECOND TEAM
None selected
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Constantin Schmitz, Tulane
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Catalin Fifea, XULA
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Ewan Moore, Tulane
COACH OF THE YEAR: Mark Booras, Tulane
HONORABLE MENTION: Arthur Libaud, Louisiana-Lafayette; Catalin Fifea, XULA; Karan Salwan, XULA
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold
No comments:
Post a Comment