Men’s Tennis Postseason Awards Announced for 2016
Donnie Smith
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.—The Sun Conference has released its postseason awards recipients for the 2016 season at the annual conference tournament banquet, held at Fairways on the Key at Crandon Park.
Warner University freshman Rafael A. Coutinho was selected as the Player of the Year after an 11-0 season at #1 singles. The Venezuelan is ranked 16
th in the ITA NAIA Men’s Singles ranking, and picked up wins at #1 singles over three ranked teams.
He and his older brother Rafael E. Coutinho were named the Doubles Team of the Year, going 11-0, and are ranked 13
th in the ITA NAIA Men’s Doubles ranking.
For his efforts in guiding the Royals to a second place finish in The Sun Conference, Jose Martinez was named The Sun Conference Coach of the Year. The Royals went 1-11 last season and 1-6 in The Sun Conference, and have posted a 5-1 league record in 2016, and are ranked 22
nd in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.
Earning Champion of Character honors for a second consecutive season is Southeastern University senior Andrew Dickens. The Muncie, Indiana native has volunteered hundreds of hours working at the Dream Center in Lakeland, and has served as a team captain the last two seasons.
Keiser placed a conference-best four players on the First Team All-Sun Conference list in Rafael Lenz, Arthur Bonnaud, Martin Martis, and Ignacio Osse. Jermaine Le Grand of St. Thomas, as well as the Coutinho’s earned First Team honors to round out the list.
A total of 16 student-athletes earned Academic All-Sun Conference honors, led by four from SCAD. To be eligible, a player must be at least a sophomore with a 3.5 grade point average, and have completed two semesters at his institution.
2016 Men’s Tennis Postseason Awards
Player of the Year
Rafael A. Coutinho, Warner
Doubles Team of the Year
Rafael E. Coutinho & Rafael A. Coutinho, Warner
Coach of the Year
Jose Martinez, Warner
Champion of Character
Andrew Dickens, Southeastern
First Team All-Conference
Rafael A. Coutinho, Warner
Rafael E. Coutinho, Warner
Rafael Lenz, Keiser
Arthur Bonnaud, Keiser
Martin Martins, Keiser
Jermaine Le Grand, St. Thomas
Ignacio Osse, Keiser
Second Team All-Conference
Quentin Staley, SCAD
Kenta Naka, SCAD
Francisco Perafan, Warner
Sean Hajdu, SCAD
Lucca Marcheschi, Southeastern
Jordan Harris, Southeastern
Academic All-Sun Conference
Rafael Lenz Gonzalez, Keiser
Guilherme Cunha, Keiser
Sean Hajdu, SCAD Savannah
Yulin Liu, SCAD Savannah
Kenta Naka, SCAD Savannah
Joshua Tewes-McCoy, SCAD Savannah
Andrew Dickens, Southeastern
Matthew Scales, Southeastern
David Veliz, Southeastern
Ariel Listo, St. Thomas
Josh Rosner, St. Thomas
Jamie Spruill, St. Thomas
Arthur Bortolin Da Silveira, Warner
Lucas Bortolin Da Silveira, Warner
Guilaume De Vauxclairs, Warner
Victor Zapparoli, Webber International