ISLANDER MEN HONORED WITH ALL-SLC AWARDS

The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team garnered several awards from the Southland Conference as All-SLC selections on Thursday afternoon. Three players were named to the first team, two doubles teams were honored and Director of Tennis Steve Moore won his third-straight Coach of the Year award.

In singles, Dmitry Novikov and Laurent Montoisy earned automatic honors due to their undefeated records at the singles position. Novikov was first-team at the No. 2 singles position, going 3-0 at No. 3, 1-0 at No. 1 and 2-0 at the No. 3 position in conference play. Novikov, junior from Minsk, Belarus, was 9-8 overall on the year.

The No. 3 singles position was won by Laurent Montoisy, who shared first-team honors with Abhaya Prakash from Nicholls State, was also undefeated in conference and by rule an automatic selection. The Lasne, Belgium native was 4-0 at No. 3 singles in conference and a team-best 14-4 overall on the year, going 9-0 at the No. 3 position, 4-4 at No. 2 singles and 1-0 at No. 4 singles.

The other first team selection for the Islanders was Zunino, who was voted onto the first team by the conference coaches and sports information directors. Zunino was honored at the No. 4 position after going 5-1 in SLC matches. The senior from Guayaquil, was 12-5 overall on the year.

In addition to the individual honors, Zunino and Montoisy completed a 6-0 season at No. 2 doubles to get the automatic selection for first-team honors. The No. 1 position in doubles was also taken by the Islanders, as Novikov teamed up with Mikhail Pavlov to take home the award after finishing 5-1.

In addition to the recognition the players received, Moore was named the SLC Coach of the Year for the third-straight season. Moore has led the Islanders to the last two conference championships by going undefeated in SLC play.

With the guidance of Moore, the Islanders have reached a ranking as high as #35 in the nation this season and are currently ranked #52 in the nation. The Islanders have reached an average high-ranking of #37 in the nation for Division I teams over the past three seasons since Moore returned to the program, the highest among I-AAA schools in the NCAA. I-AAA schools are Division I institutions that do not sponsor the sport of football. The Islanders have not lost a regular-season conference match on the court in the last three seasons.

"I'm honored but this was a group effort and it should really go to the entire group that made our team successful," said Moore. "From our assistant coaches, to compliance, to academic services and our team captains, a lot of people have worked very hard for this program to be successful."

2008-09 All-Southland Conference Men's Tennis Teams

Men's Player of the Year – Ashwin Vijayaragavan, Texas-Pan American

Freshman of the Year – Mindaugas Celedinas, UT Arlington

Newcomer of the Year – Guillaume Capovin, Southeastern Louisiana

Coach of the Year – Steve Moore, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi