April 25, 2013
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's tennis program finished with its most league wins in nine years with a 4-2 mark in 2013 and was rewarded with a bunch of hardware as the league announced it awards Thursday night during its annual banquet at the Mountain West Tennis Championships being staged at the Air Force Academy.
A school-record total of five different Rebels were named All-Mountain West in singles and doubles while Gilad Berman was also named MW Freshman of the Year. Berman, a native of Ramat Hasharon, Israel, is 18-4 during his first year on the courts, including 5-1 in league play while competing on courts 2-4. He is only the third UNLV men's player to earn the award as the late Mehdi Bouras won the honor in 2009 and fellow-Israeli Aviram Salomon took home the trophy in 2002.
Leading the way on the all-conference team was sophomore Ace Matias, who boasted the best record among the league's No. 1 players at 5-1 vs. MW foes. The former Utah transfer is 23-8 and broke into the national rankings during the season. He and Berman were UNLV's representatives in singles while two doubles teams were honored for their work. Matias and senior Bernard Schoeman are 20-10 overall and 14-7 at the No. 1 position while junior Tamas Batyi and senior Johannes Markel stand 17-7 overall and 14-4 at No. 2 in the lineup.
UNLV, ranked 62nd as a team, defeated Nevada, Reno 4-1 earlier in the day to improve to 17-7 and advance to Saturday's semifinals vs. Boise State, which downed host Air Force 4-1 to move on.
2013 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR:Andrew Bettles, Boise StateFRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:Gilad Berman, UNLV
COACH OF THE YEAR:TBD
2013 ALL-MW CONFERENCE TEAMSINGLESLance Wilhelm, Sr., Air ForceAndy Bettles, Jr., Boise StateNathan Sereke, Jr., BSUReid deLaubenfels, So., Fresno StateVictor Ouvrard, Jr., NevadaJadon Phillips, Jr., New MexicoConor Berg, Sr., New MexicoSam Iftikhar, So., New MexicoDerek Siddiqui, Sr., San Diego StateThorsten Bertsch, So., San Diego StateAce Matias, So., UNLVGilad Berman, Fr., UNLV
DOUBLESLance Wilhelm/Grant Taylor, Air ForceAndy Bettles/Nathan Sereke, Boise StateFernando Sunago/Andrew Poustie, NevadaConor Berg/Andy Van Der Vyver, New MexicoThorsten Bertsch/Hunter Nicholas, San Diego StateAce Matias/Bernard Schoeman, UNLVTamas Batyi/Johannes Markel, UNLV
