Men's Tennis All-Conference Awards Announced

CHICAGO - MARTIN WOISETSCHLAGER of UAB has been named Conference USA Player of the Year, while Louisville head coach REX ECARMA was named the Conference USA Coach of the Year after directing the Cardinals to their first C-USA championship on April 16 in Hattiesburg, Miss. JOACHIM LIEN of Louisville was named C-USA Freshman of the Year. The awards were selected in a vote of the league's head coaches.

Woisetschlager, a four-time first team All-Conference USA selection, helped lead UAB to a second place finish at the BellSouth Mobility C-USA Championship, compiling a 30-8 overall mark in singles this year. Woisetschlager is currently ranked No. 14 in the Wingspan.com Collegiate Tennis Individual Rankings. The senior went undefeated at the C-USA tournament in singles and posted a 5-0 record against C-USA opponents this season. His season highlights at the No. 1 position include nine wins over ranked opponents, being named C-USA Athlete of the Week twice and two 10-match winning streaks. Woisetschlager, the 1997 C-USA Freshman of the Year, has not lost a singles match since March 17.

In his 10th season as head coach at Louisville, Ecarma guided the Cards to their first conference crown, defeating No. 25 UAB in the finals. Ecarma, a U of L graduate and former tennis player, led the Cardinals to a 22-8 season after an 8-18 performance in 1998-99. Louisville will make its second appearance in the NCAA Championship.

Lien claimed C-USA Freshman of the Year honors, as well as a place on the All-Conference USA first team. He posted a 22-8 overall record in singles, including a 3-1 mark at the conference championship.

Woisetschlager and Lien are joined on the first team All-Conference USA by: DENNIS LUNDBERG of Tulane, FABIO TINTORI of South Florida, TVRTKO KUJUNDZIC of Louisville and Southern Miss' MIIKKA KANGAS.

Named second team All-Conference USA are: JACOB NORDWALL of Charlotte, JOHN CHEREGI of DePaul, KOLIE VAN ZYL of UAB, BEN STAPP of Memphis, BRENT MCCOMBE of Louisville and Tulane's MIKKO VILJANEN.

Players receiving third team All-Conference USA honors include: PETER MOJZIS of Marquette, ALEKS POPOVIC and BORIS BABIC of South Florida, OLA JONSSON of Charlotte, and UAB's ALEX JUNG and TOM DALBY.

2000 CONFERENCE USA MEN'S TENNISPOSTSEASON AWARDS

First Team All-Conference
Miikka Kangas, USM
Tvrtko Kujundzic , LOU
Joachim Lien, LOU
*Dennis Lundberg, TUL
Fabio Tintori, USF
*Martin Woisetschlager, UAB

Second Team All-Conference
John Cheregi, DPU
Brent McCombe, LOU
Jacob Nordwall, UNCC
Ben Stapp, MEM
Kolie Van Zyl, UAB
Mikko Viljanen, TUL

Third Team All-Conference
Boris Babic, USF
Tom Dalby, UAB
Ola Jonsson, UNCC
Alex Jung, UAB
Peter Mojzis, MAR
Aleks Popovic, USF

Player of the Year
Martin Woisetschlager, UAB

Freshman of the Year
Joachim Lien, LOU

Coach of the Year
Rex Ecarma, LOU

* Indicates top two C-USA players in the Wingspan.com Collegiate Individual Rankings