Five Tennis Bulldogs Nab All-SEC Honors; Nilsson Is Coach Of The Year
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team has produced a tremendous amount of success this season and that was evident in the release of the 2011 All-Southeastern Conference teams Wednesday, as five Bulldogs earned league honors, Malte Stropp was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Year and head coach Per Nilsson was named Coach of the Year in the league.
When combining the All-SEC and All-Freshman teams, State’s five honorees tied Georgia for the most representation on Wednesday’s all-league squads.
"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."
Three veteran Bulldogs earned Second-Team, All-SEC honors as juniors George Coupland, Artem Ilyushin and Louis Cant were all named to the squad for their play this season.
Coupland and Ilyushin have split time at the #1 and #2 singles positions for MSU this spring and teamed to form one of the nation’s top doubles teams as well. Coupland, currently 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 presently, has defeated six top 80 singles foes in 2010-11, one in the top 15. In doubles, the duo went 12-4 together this year, including a perfect 5-0 mark in the SEC.
Cant, now 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 was an impressive 9-2 in the SEC at the No. 5 position this season. He has won 10 of last 11 singles matches and is also currently 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 over #4 Tennessee and rival 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 head coach, has led Mississippi State back to familiar territory in 2011. The Bulldogs, which are primed for their 20th selection to the NCAA Championship (to be announced May 3), have posted their best record overall (13-8) and in the SEC (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 currently 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 himself 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.
2011 All-SEC Men's Tennis Team
Coach of the Year: Per Nilsson, Mississippi State
Player of the Year: John-Patrick Smith, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Malte Stropp, Mississippi State
Scholar Ahtlete of the Year: Tim Puetz, Auburn
All-SEC First Team
Tim Puetz, Auburn
Alexandre Lacroix, Florida
Sekou Bangoura Jr., Florida
Wil Spencer, Georgia
Javier Garrapiz, Georgia
Eric Quigley, Kentucky
Marcel Thiemann, Ole Miss
Boris Conkic, Tennessee
John-Patrick Smith, Tennessee
Rhyne Williams, Tennessee
Tennys Sandgren,Tennessee
Ryan Lipman, Vanderbilt
All-SEC Second Team
Chris Nott, Arkansas
Alex Stamchev, Auburn
Nassim Slilam, Florida
Sadio Doumbia, Georgia
Drake Bernstein, Georgia
Alex Musialek, Kentucky
Alberto Gonzalez, Kentucky
Neal Skupski, LSU
Tucker Vorster, Ole Miss
Artem Ilyushin, Mississippi State
George Coupland, Mississippi State
Louis Cant, Mississippi State
Adam Baker, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Daniil Proskura, Alabama
Andrew Butz, Florida
Hernus Pieters, Georgia
Tom Jomby, Kentucky
Malte Stropp, Mississippi State
Zach White, Mississippi State