Pair of Firebirds Earn Men’s Tennis All-East Coast Conference Honors
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – The University of the District of Columbia's Rok Bozic and Alexis Baguelin earned First and Second Team All-East Coast Conference Men's Tennis distinctions, respectively, as voted on by the league's coaches and announced on Thursday, April 20th ahead of this weekend's ECC Championship Tournament.
Bozic, a junior from Ljubljana, Slovenia, was 3-2 vs. ECC competition at No. 1 singles this season. He defeated Daemen College's David Gonzalez Villegas, 7-5, 6-4, St. Thomas Aquinas College's Aaron Stahl, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Second Team All-ECC selection from Roberts Wesleyan, Hugo Ball-Greene, Jr., 6-3, 6-1. His only two conference singles losses came to ECC Player of the Year, Sharvill Nawghre, of Queens College, and First Team All-ECC selection, New York Institute of Technology's Rafal Charkiewicz.
Bozic also teamed with UDC No. 2 singles player Diego Pinto at No. 1 doubles, and this duo won four of five doubles matches in conference play. Among those four wins was an incredible, 9-8 upset victory over the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Doubles Champion team of Nawghre and Second Team All-ECC selection, Roman Laga, Jr. from Queens College. Individually, Bozic finished with an overall doubles record of 9-5, which included two wins at the ITA East Region Championship Tournament.
Baguelin was also 3-2 in conference play at No. 3 singles this season. He defeated Daemen's Fabian Wilde, 6-4, 6-3, STAC's Andrew Farragut, 6-4, 6-4, and RWC's Dennis Barlotta, 6-4, 6-0. His only two conference losses came to two Second Team All-ECC selections: Richard Sec, of Queens, and Rares Ispas, Jr. of NYIT.
The Le Houlme, France native also finished the season 6-5 overall in doubles play. He paired with Pinto early in the season at No. 1 doubles and went 1-1, then teamed with No. 4 singles player Ander Murillo at No. 2 doubles the rest of the season and went 5-3. Baguelin and Murillo were 2-3 at No, 2 doubles in conference play.
Bozic and Baguelin will lead the No. 3 seeded Firebirds into battle against the No. 2 seed NYIT Bears in the ECC Championship Tournament semifinals on Friday, April 21st at 2 p.m.
2017 ECC Men's Tennis All-Conference
First Team
Rok Bozic, Jr., Dist. Columbia
Rafal Charkiewicz, Sr., NYIT
Cosme Jubera, So., Queens
Paul Langbroek, Fr., Roberts Wesleyan
Gabriel Mendez, Jr., Queens
Sharvill Nawghre, Sr., Queens
Second Team
Alexis Baguelin, Jr., Dist. Columbia
Hugo Ball-Greene, Jr., Roberts Wesleyan
Rares Ispas, Jr., NYIT
Roman Laga, Jr., Queens
Ricardo Ruiz Martinez, So., Daemen
Richard Sec, So., Queens
Player of the Year: Sharvill Nawghre, Sr., Queens
Rookie of the Year: Paul Langbroek, Fr., Roberts Wesleyan
Coach of the Year: Somadi Druker, Queens