Mississippi State's Matt Roberts became the first Bulldog coach to be named SEC Coach of the Year since 2011.
MSU Men’s Tennis Dominates 2018 Southeastern Conference Honors
May 03, 2018 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – After its best Southeastern Conference finish since 1993 and its first league tournament title since 1996, the seventh-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team continues to reap the rewards as the Bulldogs were heavily decorated in the SEC's annual awards released Thursday.
Fourth-year head coach Matt Roberts led the charge, becoming the first Bulldog mentor to be named SEC Coach of the Year since Per Nilsson in 2011, and the fifth in program history. Roberts has led the Maroon and White to an incredible 20-2 mark thus far in 2018, including a program-best 11-1 finish in conference play. State earned the No. 6 national seed in the upcoming NCAA Team Championship (highest since 1998) and will host the 1st and 2nd Rounds May 11-12 in Starkville.
"It's an honor to be a head coach in the SEC and to receive an award like this is very special," Roberts said. "These young men deserve so much of this credit, as they are the ones growing immensely every week putting the lessons we teach them into practice. When you enjoy your group you work with as much as we do, you are already succeeding as a group and that has been the best part of this year, in my opinion. I want to thank my former assistants Tanner Stump, Matt Walters and current assistant Andrew Goodwin for working so hard day-in and day-out, and of course Per Nilsson for teaching me so much and always having my back. Hail State!"
Just a day after securing his second straight All-America honor by being named the No. 3 seed in the 2018 NCAA Singles Championship, junior Nuno Borges became the first Bulldog to ever earn back-to-back SEC Player of the Year honors Thursday. He's just one of three players in league history to achieve the feat, joining Georgia legend John Isner and Tennessee's John-Patrick Smith in the elite club. The honor comes less than a week after Borges was named the SEC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in men's tennis and he is the first-ever SEC men's tennis student-athlete to sweep the two major SEC awards since the academic laurel began in 2004.
The Maia, Porto, Portugal, standout was also named to the All-SEC First Team in addition to his top honor for the second season in a row. Borges has consistently been the top-ranked SEC player in the ITA singles rankings, remaining in the top five all season long. His 23 wins rank second on the team, with 19 of those wins coming against ranked foes.
Joining Borges on the first team was his doubles partner Strahinja Rakic and sophomore Giovanni Oradini. Rakic and Borges most recently earned the top seed in the upcoming NCAA Doubles Championship—a program-first—and also became the first doubles tandem since Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons in 1994 to achieve the top ITA ranking in doubles. The junior from Belgrade, Serbia, owns a 21-10 overall ledger in 2017-18, including a 13-5 mark at the No. 3 singles spot. In SEC play, Rakic held a 7-3 record.
Oradini's sensational sophomore campaign continues after he earned the first bid of his career to the NCAA Singles Championship, earning an at-large spot. The Rovereto, Italy, native has played at the No. 2 singles position all year for State and leads the Bulldogs in total wins with 27 on the year. This past weekend in Tuscaloosa, he notched key back-to-back wins—defeating No. 51 Oliver Crawford (Florida) and Texas A&M's 10th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech to tie Sunday's title match at 3-all.
MSU junior Niclas Braun makes his second straight appearance on the All-SEC Second Team after another solid regular season with the Bulldogs. He currently stands at 18-8 overall (13-4 dual at the No. 4 singles) and held a solid 7-2 mark in SEC play. Braun and doubles partner Oradini also went a spectacular 10-0 in SEC play at No. 2 doubles, going 14-1 overall in dual matches.
Rounding out the Bulldogs' SEC honors is State rookie Florian Broska. The Eitelborn, Germany, native earned a spot on the six-member All-SEC Freshman team after a stellar first season at MSU. Spending the entire season at the No. 5 singles position, Broska has tallied an impressive 20-8 overall record, including a 14-5 mark in dual matches while going 8-2 in SEC play.
"Today is such an exciting day for our program," Roberts said. "I'm extremely proud of all of our honorees, who are all very deserving of this. It goes to show that their hard work does not go unnoticed by those outside of our team. As always, today is a great day to be a Bulldog. Hail State!"
Up Next For MSU…
MSU readies to host the NCAA First and Second Rounds for the first time since 2013, taking on fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech no earlier than 1 p.m. on May 11 to open the 2018 NCAA Team Championship. For full tournament and ticket information, please visit www.hailstate.com/ncaatennis.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
First Team All-SEC
Mazen Osama, Alabama
Jose Salazar, Arkansas
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Alfredo Perez, Florida
Will Bushamuka, Kentucky
Ryotaro Matsumura, Kentucky
Tim Sandkaulen, Ole Miss
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State
Strahinja Rakic, Mississippi State
Gabriel Friedrich, South Carolina
Timo Stodder, Tennessee
Patrick Kypson, Texas A&M
Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
Cameron Klinger, Vanderbilt
Daniel Valent, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Edson Ortiz, Alabama
Matteo DeVincentis, Auburn
Johannes Ingildsen. Florida
Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Nathan Ponwith, Georgia
Jan Zielinski, Georgia
Trey Yates, Kentucky
Shane Monroe, LSU
Gustav Hansson, Ole Miss
Niclas Braun, Mississippi State
Paul Jubb, South Carolina
Scott Jones, Tennessee
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Texas A&M
Jordi Arconada, Texas A&M
Valentin Vacherot, Texas A&M
Baker Newman, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman
Matteo DeVincentis, Auburn
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Florian Broska, Mississippi State
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Texas A&M
Patrick Kypson, Texas A&M
George Harwell, Vanderbilt
Player of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Freshman of the Year
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Coach of the Year
Matt Roberts, Mississippi State
Fourth-year head coach Matt Roberts led the charge, becoming the first Bulldog mentor to be named SEC Coach of the Year since Per Nilsson in 2011, and the fifth in program history. Roberts has led the Maroon and White to an incredible 20-2 mark thus far in 2018, including a program-best 11-1 finish in conference play. State earned the No. 6 national seed in the upcoming NCAA Team Championship (highest since 1998) and will host the 1st and 2nd Rounds May 11-12 in Starkville.
"It's an honor to be a head coach in the SEC and to receive an award like this is very special," Roberts said. "These young men deserve so much of this credit, as they are the ones growing immensely every week putting the lessons we teach them into practice. When you enjoy your group you work with as much as we do, you are already succeeding as a group and that has been the best part of this year, in my opinion. I want to thank my former assistants Tanner Stump, Matt Walters and current assistant Andrew Goodwin for working so hard day-in and day-out, and of course Per Nilsson for teaching me so much and always having my back. Hail State!"
Just a day after securing his second straight All-America honor by being named the No. 3 seed in the 2018 NCAA Singles Championship, junior Nuno Borges became the first Bulldog to ever earn back-to-back SEC Player of the Year honors Thursday. He's just one of three players in league history to achieve the feat, joining Georgia legend John Isner and Tennessee's John-Patrick Smith in the elite club. The honor comes less than a week after Borges was named the SEC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in men's tennis and he is the first-ever SEC men's tennis student-athlete to sweep the two major SEC awards since the academic laurel began in 2004.
The Maia, Porto, Portugal, standout was also named to the All-SEC First Team in addition to his top honor for the second season in a row. Borges has consistently been the top-ranked SEC player in the ITA singles rankings, remaining in the top five all season long. His 23 wins rank second on the team, with 19 of those wins coming against ranked foes.
Joining Borges on the first team was his doubles partner Strahinja Rakic and sophomore Giovanni Oradini. Rakic and Borges most recently earned the top seed in the upcoming NCAA Doubles Championship—a program-first—and also became the first doubles tandem since Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons in 1994 to achieve the top ITA ranking in doubles. The junior from Belgrade, Serbia, owns a 21-10 overall ledger in 2017-18, including a 13-5 mark at the No. 3 singles spot. In SEC play, Rakic held a 7-3 record.
Oradini's sensational sophomore campaign continues after he earned the first bid of his career to the NCAA Singles Championship, earning an at-large spot. The Rovereto, Italy, native has played at the No. 2 singles position all year for State and leads the Bulldogs in total wins with 27 on the year. This past weekend in Tuscaloosa, he notched key back-to-back wins—defeating No. 51 Oliver Crawford (Florida) and Texas A&M's 10th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech to tie Sunday's title match at 3-all.
MSU junior Niclas Braun makes his second straight appearance on the All-SEC Second Team after another solid regular season with the Bulldogs. He currently stands at 18-8 overall (13-4 dual at the No. 4 singles) and held a solid 7-2 mark in SEC play. Braun and doubles partner Oradini also went a spectacular 10-0 in SEC play at No. 2 doubles, going 14-1 overall in dual matches.
Rounding out the Bulldogs' SEC honors is State rookie Florian Broska. The Eitelborn, Germany, native earned a spot on the six-member All-SEC Freshman team after a stellar first season at MSU. Spending the entire season at the No. 5 singles position, Broska has tallied an impressive 20-8 overall record, including a 14-5 mark in dual matches while going 8-2 in SEC play.
"Today is such an exciting day for our program," Roberts said. "I'm extremely proud of all of our honorees, who are all very deserving of this. It goes to show that their hard work does not go unnoticed by those outside of our team. As always, today is a great day to be a Bulldog. Hail State!"
Up Next For MSU…
MSU readies to host the NCAA First and Second Rounds for the first time since 2013, taking on fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech no earlier than 1 p.m. on May 11 to open the 2018 NCAA Team Championship. For full tournament and ticket information, please visit www.hailstate.com/ncaatennis.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
First Team All-SEC
Mazen Osama, Alabama
Jose Salazar, Arkansas
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Alfredo Perez, Florida
Will Bushamuka, Kentucky
Ryotaro Matsumura, Kentucky
Tim Sandkaulen, Ole Miss
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State
Strahinja Rakic, Mississippi State
Gabriel Friedrich, South Carolina
Timo Stodder, Tennessee
Patrick Kypson, Texas A&M
Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
Cameron Klinger, Vanderbilt
Daniel Valent, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Edson Ortiz, Alabama
Matteo DeVincentis, Auburn
Johannes Ingildsen. Florida
Wayne Montgomery, Georgia
Nathan Ponwith, Georgia
Jan Zielinski, Georgia
Trey Yates, Kentucky
Shane Monroe, LSU
Gustav Hansson, Ole Miss
Niclas Braun, Mississippi State
Paul Jubb, South Carolina
Scott Jones, Tennessee
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Texas A&M
Jordi Arconada, Texas A&M
Valentin Vacherot, Texas A&M
Baker Newman, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman
Matteo DeVincentis, Auburn
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Florian Broska, Mississippi State
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Texas A&M
Patrick Kypson, Texas A&M
George Harwell, Vanderbilt
Player of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Freshman of the Year
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Coach of the Year
Matt Roberts, Mississippi State
Friday, May 01
Saturday, May 03
Friday, May 02
Monday, April 28