April 21, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Coming off successful seasons, the Cleveland State tennis teams were honored with numerous postseason awards at the annual Horizon League banquet on Thursday night.
Junior Yannick Goossens and senior Rob Fox were named to the All-Horizon League first team on the men's side, while freshman Matt Kuelker was named to the second team and was also tabbed the co-Newcomer of the Year.
In addition, Fox was selected as the winner of the Herb Foster Sportsmanship Award on the men's side which recognizes student-athletes who display admirable conduct both on and off the courts.
The award marks the sixth straight season that a men's or women's player from CSU has earned the honor as Fox joins Sarah Galon (2006, 2007), Brad Groleski (2006), Morgan Ungerott (2008), Steve Wipprecht (2009) and Charlotte Gibbons (2010).
On the women's side, junior Catrine Bjerrehus was named to the All-Horizon League first team for the third straight year, while freshman Alex Bush garnered a spot on the second team.
In addition, head coach Brian Etzkin shared Coach of the Year honors with UIC's Shannon Tully. It is the first time that Etzkin has won the award on the women's side. He was the Coach of the Year for the men in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
"It's always a nice feeling when you go to the banquet knowing that you have student-athletes that will have a chance to be honored," Etzkin said. "To have as many players honored as we did is a testament to how hard they have worked this year.
"While the awards are nice, we also know that we have two more awards we would like to bring back to Cleveland and those are Horizon League Championships. In order to do that, we are going to have to come out tomorrow and play focused tennis and bring a lot of energy and intensity to the court."
Goossens earned his second straight selection to the all-league first team after going 19-12 at No. 1 singles. Fox, who was an all-league second team pick as a sophomore, went 21-13 at No. 2 singles, while Kuelker was honored after posting a 20-11 mark at No. 3 singles.
Kuelker was a perfect 7-0 in league singles play, one of just three players in the league to do that this year. He is the first CSU player to earn Newcomer of the Year honors since 2003 when Jay Tee was chosen.
Bjerrehus was named to the all-league first team for the third straight season after an 8-19 mark at No. 1 singles, including a 4-3 mark in league play. Bush was voted to the team after leading the Vikings with a 22-10 record at No. 2 singles, going 6-2 in league play.
The CSU men's squad finished the regular season with a 14-7 overall mark and went 7-0 in the Horizon League for the third straight year. As the top seed in the Horizon League Championship, the Vikings open play with a semifinal match against fourth-seeded UIC on Friday (April 22) at 10:30 a.m.
The women's squad finished the season at 12-11 overall and in second place in the Horizon League at 7-1, tying the program record for most league wins in a season. The No. 2 seed in the league championship, CSU opens play on Friday (April 22) with a 2:30 p.m. match against third-seeded Butler.