Hampton University’s Na-Hyun Baek and South Carolina State University’s Ivan Milivojevic were named the 2009 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women’s and Men’s Tennis Players of the Year, as voted by the leagues’ head tennis coaches and sports information directors.
Bethune-Cookman head coach Trey Bogue earned Women’s Coach of the Year accolades, while Bogue and South Carolina State head coach Hardeep Judge were named Men’s Co-Coaches of the Year.
Baek, the reigning MEAC Player of the Year, tallied an 11-2 record at the number one single’s position. She recorded an unblemished 5-0 mark in northern divisional play and 8-4 mark (4-0 MEAC) in doubles competition.
Milivojevic posted a 3-0 mark in the southern division and an 11-5 overall record at the number one single’s position. In doubles action, he recorded a 9-6 record including a 3-0 mark in conference play.
In his eight years at the helm of the B-CU men’s and women’s tennis programs, Bogue had 28 players earn All-MEAC honors. The Lady Wildcats improved from a 3-15 overall mark a year ago to an 11-10 record overall and 2-2 record in the south. On the men’s side, Bethune-Cookman (7-13) tallied four more wins than a year ago and was 1-2 in the southern division and 4-0 in non-conference matches against teams in the northern division.
The 2009 Coach of the Year honor is the third on the men’s side for Judge, who also earned MEAC Women’s Coach of the Year accolades in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Under his tutelage, the Bulldogs have won four of the last five MEAC tennis titles. During his eight year tenure at South Carolina State, his men’s and women’s programs have each posted over 100 victories. This season the Bulldogs posted a 3-0 record in the southern division for the second straight season and concluded the regular season with an 11-6 record.
South Carolina State’s Aniko Kiss was named Rookie of the Year for the women, while Nello Mattos of Hampton earned the honor for the men. Kiss was unbeaten in the southern division with a 4-0 mark and tallied a 12-4 overall record at the number three singles position. In doubles action, she recorded a 10-5 mark including a 4-0 southern divisional sweep. Mattos posted a 7-3 overall mark and 4-0 record in northern divisional matches. He concluded the regular season with wins in four of his last five matches and tallied a 7-3 mark in doubles play.
Joining Baek and Kiss on the Women’s First-Team are Bethune-Cookman’s Monika Musilova and Florida A&M’s Rachel Pye. South Carolina State teammates Daria Sekerina and Fanni Fricska complete the first-team.
Along with Milivojevic and Mattos, South Carolina State’s Tomas Dobrotka and Radek Pivonka earned Men’s First-Team honors. Florida A&M’s Artiom Podgainii and Howard’s Michael Gee earned all-conference honors.
The MEAC Tennis Championships will begin on Friday, April 17 at 8:30 a.m. Tennis action continues on Saturday with semifinal play beginning 8:30 a.m. for the women and noon for the men. The championships conclude on Sunday, April 19 beginning at 9 a.m. with the women’s championship final followed by the men’s championship finale at 11:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public