STARKVILLE — Five members of the Mississippi State men”s tennis team received All-Southeastern Conference honors, and coach Per Nilsson was named SEC Coach of the Year on Wednesday.
Malte Stropp also was named SEC Freshman of the Year.
“I”m extremely proud of what our team has accomplished this season, and these honors are very indicative of those accomplishments” Nilsson said. “I am humbled to have been named Coach of the Year by my peers, but I also want to give a lot of credit to our assistant coach, Matt Hill. He deserves as much credit as I do for our success.”
Juniors George Coupland, Artem Ilyushin, and Louis Cant earned second-team All-SEC honors.
Coupland and Ilyushin have split time at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions for MSU this spring and teamed to form one of the nation”s top doubles teams as well. Coupland, ranked 59th nationally in singles, has defeated three ranked singles foes this year, two in the top 40 and one in the top 5. Ilyushin, ranked 63rd, has defeated six top 80 singles foes in 2010-11, one in the top 15. In doubles, the duo went 12-4 this year, including a 5-0 mark in the SEC.
Cant, ranked 83rd in the country, has been ranked as high as 38th in singles this year. The Brugge, Belgium, product holds the second-best winning percentage on team in singles dual matches (15-4, .790) and is 9-2 in the SEC at No. 5 this season. He has won 10 of last 11 singles matches and is ranked 39th in doubles with Malte Stropp.
State was the only team in the conference to have two members of the SEC All-Freshman team, with Stropp and Zach White earning the honor. Stropp was also named the SEC Freshman of the Year.
The Dusseldorf, Germany, native Stropp has been one of top rookies in nation in 2011. A four-time SEC Freshman of the Week, he is 24-5 in singles, 16-2 in dual matches, and was a stellar 9-1 in SEC play this season, playing mainly at the No. 4 position. He has been ranked as high as 89th in the country in singles and 33rd in doubles with Cant. The rookie has MSU”s best winning percentage in dual matches (.889) and has won his last 11 contests in a row. Stropp also clinched a team-best four matches for State this season, including MSU”s big home wins against No. 4 Tennessee and Ole Miss.
White, from Niagara Falls, Canada, is 11-7 at the No. 6 spot for State this season, including an impressive 8-3 in the SEC in his first season in the league. He clinched two matches for MSU this spring (SEC road wins at South Carolina & Auburn) and is finishing the season strong, having won eight of his last 11 contests for the Bulldogs.
Nilsson, in his fourth season as State”s coach, has led MSU back to familiar territory in 2011. The Bulldogs, which are primed for their 20th selection to the NCAA Championship, have posted their best record (13-8) and SEC record (8-3) since 1998”s NCAA semifinal team went 21-5 and 9-2 in the league. Seven of MSU”s eight losses this season have come to teams ranked among the nation”s top 10.
Under Nilsson”s guidance, MSU also claimed its first SEC Western Division crown (since the league went to divisions in 2002), finishing two matches better than its nearest competition in the division. State has also been ranked as high as 19th nationally this spring, the best by the program since 2005.
Nilsson was four-year letterwinner (1991-94) for the Bulldogs and was a member of State”s 1993 SEC Championship team and the Bulldogs” 1994 NCAA semifinalist squad. He was assistant coach at Pepperdine when the Wave won the 2006 national title.
When combining the All-SEC and All-Freshman teams, MSU”s five honorees tied the University of Georgia for the most representation on the all-league squads.
The University of Mississippi”s Marcel Thiemann, a junior, earned first-team honors for the second year in a row, while Tucker Vorster, one of two seniors on the team, made the second team for the second straight year.
“We are extremely proud of Marcel and Tucker,” Ole Miss coach Billy Chadwick said. “This is the toughest league in the country, and they both have been instrumental in helping position us for a likely two seed in the NCAAs.”
Thiemann, a native of Lehrte, Germany, is No. 37 in the nation in singles and No. 11 in doubles with his brother, Chris. He played No. 1 singles for the second year in a row and went 6-5 in the SEC, including a win against the nation”s No. 6 ranked player to help the Rebels to a huge win against No. 8 Florida on the road.
Vorster, a native of Pretoria, South Africa, has vaulted up the singles rankings to No. 50. He went 7-3 in the SEC at No. 2 singles.
The University of Tennessee”s John-Patrick Smith was named Player of the Year. Auburn”s Tim Puetz was named Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Alabama”s Danil Proskura was named to the All-Freshman team.
MSU and Ole Miss will learn their postseason destinations Tuesday when the NCAA selections are announced on NCAA.com.
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