Borges Three-Peats As SEC Player Of The Year To Lead Four All-SEC Honorees

by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Less than a week after clinching Mississippi State's second consecutive conference tournament title, SEC Tournament MVP Nuno Borges gets to add another distinction to his long list of accolades: the only three-time SEC Men's Tennis Player of the Year.

Borges and three other Bulldogs – Niclas Braun, Giovanni Oradini and Strahinja Rakic – earned All-SEC honors, the league office announced Thursday, with Borges making history as the only player to earn the conference Player of the Year honor three times in a career. All four Bulldogs have played a key role in MSU winning a second-straight SEC Tournament Championship last week and putting State in position to host the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row. MSU led the league with three first-team honors.

"This is an incredible accomplishment for Nuno to become the first to earn SEC Player of the Year for a third time in men's tennis," head coach Matt Roberts said. "He's worked incredibly hard, and that hard work has paid off for him. I'm really proud of him and the rest of the guys for their commitment to build our special culture within our program. When the culture is where it is, you are winning there first, and these awards follow. We still have plenty of work to do as we continue our postseason, and we're looking forward to playing NCAAs in front of our amazing fans."

Borges' third Player of the Year honor comes after an amazing 30-2 singles campaign that saw him go undefeated in dual match play (23-0) and in the SEC (12-0), all at the No. 1 position. The Maia, Porto, Portugal, native's second SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award earned last week made him just the second to earn the honor more than once. Borges also joins athletes such as Herschel Walker, Pete Maravich, and several others as three-time winners in their respective sports.

During his incredible singles run, Borges has claimed the top spot in several career categories at MSU, including overall wins (179), singles wins (114), dual match wins (132), dual match singles wins (79) and wins by a doubles pair (54 w/Rakic). Additionally, he led the league with three SEC Player of the Week honors in 2019, totaling five in his illustrious tenure as a Bulldog. In his four seasons, Borges has notched a remarkable 39-8 mark in conference play in singles.

Borges was joined on the First Team by fellow senior and doubles partner Rakic, marking the second year in a row the tandem appeared on the list as the conference's top doubles pair – ranked third nationally at present. As a tandem, Borges and Rakic recorded a 15-6 overall mark in dual match play, including a 9-2 SEC record, also all at the top spot in State's lineup.

Oradini earned a First Team nod for the second year in a row after a solid junior campaign at the No. 2 position in both singles and doubles. The Italian lefty went 12-8 in dual match play, going 7-4 in SEC competition this season. In doubles, Oradini registered a stellar 14-2 mark with Braun, going 5-1 in SEC play and being ranking as high as third nationally – a career-best for both players. At present, Braun and Oradini rank 27^th in the Oracle ITA national doubles rankings.

Braun earned all-conference honors for the third year in a row, snagging Second Team laurels once again after continuing his strong doubles play and being a key piece in the middle of the Bulldog singles corps. Doubles has been Braun's specialty, where he holds a 15-2 mark in dual match play (14-2 at No. 2) and a 6-1 ledger in conference play. In singles, Braun owns an impressive 12-4 record (11-2 at No. 4) with an 8-3 mark in league action.

This season has been one of Braun's best, as he's clinched seven matches for State, including the Bulldogs' 4-2 SEC quarterfinal win over Vanderbilt on Friday. The senior went 5-0 during MSU's SEC title run last week and joined Borges on the All-Tournament Team. He now ranks among the top 10 in five career categories, including career wins (5^th – 171), doubles wins (2^nd – 87), dual match wins (4^th – 114), dual match singles wins (t7th – 57) and dual match doubles wins (t1st – 57). Braun and Oradini also rank third in school history with 44 wins as a tandem.

Next Up For MSU …
The Bulldogs are expected to be selected as a host site for the First and Second Rounds of the 2019 NCAA Team Championship during Monday's selection show at 5 p.m. CT on NCAA.com. State will earn its 24^th all-time selection to the NCAA Team Championship, including the ninth in a row. The Bulldogs reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2018 for the first time in 20 years and have won back-to-back SEC Championship crowns in 2018 and 2019.

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
Edson Ortiz, Alabama
Oliver Crawford, Florida
Emil Reinberg, Georgia
Jan Zielinski, Georgia
Ryotaro Matsumura, Kentucky
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State
Strahinja Rakic, Mississippi State
Paul Jubb, South Carolina
Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina
Timo Stodder, Tennessee
Adam Walton, Tennessee
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Texas A&M

Second Team All-SEC
Hady Habib, Texas A&M
Oscar Mesquida, Arkansas
Tim Sandkaulen, Ole Miss
Valentin Vacherot, Texas A&M
Sam Riffice, Florida
Niclas Braun, Mississippi State
Enzo Wallart, Kentucky
Andy Andrade, Florida
Scott Jones, Tennessee
Johannes Ingildsen, Florida
Cameron Klinger, Vanderbilt
Barnaby Smith, Texas A&M

All-Freshman
Sam Riffice, Florida
Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina
Boris Kozlov, LSU
Philip Henning, Georgia
Raphael Lambling, South Carolina
Lukas Greif, Florida

Player of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State

Freshman of the Year
Sam Riffice, Florida

Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State

Coach of the Year
Bryan Shelton, Florida

Mississippi State University Athletics

Borges Three-Peats As SEC Player Of The Year To Lead Four All-SEC Honorees

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