April 27, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four University of Kentucky men’s tennis players have been named All-Southeastern Conference performers, setting a new school record for honors in a season, the league office announced Wednesday. Junior Eric Quigley was named to the first team, while senior Alberto Gonzalez and junior Alex Musialek were named to the second team. Freshman Tom Jomby has been named to the freshman team.
The first-team selection for Quigley is his second first-team honor in as many years. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., is currently ranked sixth in the nation after compiling a 43-11 record. The junior has been a key to UK’s success this season with the Wildcats going 19-2 when he wins a singles match. Quigley has been ranked as one of the best playing in the country all season long, sitting in the top seven since the rankings began the first week of January.
Gonzalez earns his first SEC yearly award after being named to the second team. The native of Bradenton, Fla., was named to the SEC All-Tournament team this season after his impressive performance in both singles and doubles for UK at the event. The senior has been ranked a majority of the season in both singles and doubles, including peaking at No. 72 in singles and No. 41 in doubles. Gonzalez is 23-9 this season, including an 8-4 record in SEC play and is currently ranked No. 93.
Musialek was also named to the second team, marking the second consecutive season that he has picked up such honors. The native of Dax, France has been stellar for UK in 2011 posting a team high in SEC wins with 10. The Frenchman has been ranked in singles all season long, including a high ranking of 32nd. Musialek joins Tigran Martirosyan (2004-05) and Carlos Drada (1999-2000) as the only players in school history to be named to the All-SEC second team in consecutive seasons.
Jomby became Kentucky’s third ever member to the SEC All-Freshman team, following in the footsteps of Quigley (2009) and Anthony Rossi, who made the team last season. The native of Nantes, France has been named SEC Freshman of the Week twice this season with a singles record of 13-8.
Mississippi State’s Per Nilsson was named Coach of the Year, while Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith won his second consecutive Player of the Year award. Malte Stropp of Mississippi State earned Freshman of the Year honors and Tim Puetz of Auburn was the Scholar Athlete of the Year.
UK (26-8) will now wait to hear about an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament. The selections for the tournament will be broadcast live on NCAA.com on May 3 at 5:30 p.m. ET. For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, visit UKathletics.com.
2011 Southeastern Conference Men’s Tennis Awards
Coach of the Year: Per Nilsson, Mississippi State
Player of the Year: John-Patrick Smith, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Malte Stropp, Mississippi State
Scholar Athlete of the Year: Tim Puetz, Auburn
All-SEC First Team
Tim Puetz, Auburn
Alexandre Lacroix, Florida
Sekou Bangoura Jr., Florida
Wil Spencer, Georgia
Javier Garrapiz, Georgia
Eric Quigley, Kentucky
Marcel Thiemann, Ole Miss
Boris Conkic, Tennessee
John-Patrick Smith, Tennessee
Rhyne Williams, Tennessee
Tennys Sandgren,Tennessee
Ryan Lipman, Vanderbilt
All-SEC Second Team
Chris Nott, Arkansas
Alex Stamchev, Auburn
Nassim Slilam, Florida
Sadio Doumbia, Georgia
Drake Bernstein, Georgia
Alex Musialek, Kentucky
Alberto Gonzalez, Kentucky
Neal Skupski, LSU
Tucker Vorster, Ole Miss
Artem Ilyushin, Mississippi State
George Coupland, Mississippi State
Louis Cant, Mississippi State
Adam Baker, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Daniil Proskura, Alabama
Andrew Butz, Florida
Hernus Pieters, Georgia
Tom Jomby, Kentucky
Malte Stropp, Mississippi State
Zach White, Mississippi State
