Complete Western Athletic Conference Release

DENVER - With a share of the 2021 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season title in-hand, the NM State men's tennis team learned Thursday morning that six of its players who helped clinch the crown earned some individual recognition.

Senior Nicolas Buitrago (number two) earned a spot on the All-WAC Singles First Team, redshirt freshman Corey Clarke and junior Louis Menard were honored as All-WAC Singles Second Team performers, Clarke and sophomore Martin Simecek grabbed a spot on the All-WAC Doubles Second Team while freshman Petr Stavrovskij and freshman Jordy Visser were each named All-WAC Honorable Mention selections when the league unveiled its 2021 awards.

An automatic choices for the All-WAC Singles First Team after producing a perfect 4-0 mark in league singles matches, Buitrago has been a constant in flight two for the Aggies in 2021. The Bogotá, Colombia, product is the owner of a 9-6 singles mark and is riding a seven-match winning streak in one-on-one action heading into this weekend's WAC Tournament. This season, he has twice been honored as the WAC Men's Tennis Singles Player of the Week.

Bouncing back in a big way after a 1-6 start to the season, Clarke's debut campaign with the Aggies has seen the Australian win eight of his last nine matches. Through the year, Clarke has played on lines four, five and six for the Aggies in singles play with seven of his 15 one-on-one matches coming in flight five. Two of his three WAC wins have come on line four while the other was generated on line five and Clarke has won each of his last seven matches, too.

The Aggies' leader in singles wins, Menard has conjured up a 10-4 mark while playing almost exclusively on the top line. Just once has the Frenchman dropped consecutive singles matches in 2021 and Menard emerged as the victor in three of the four WAC singles bouts he took part in. In early February, he was named the WAC Men's Tennis Singles Player of the Week and Menard is currently on a three-match winning streak in singles action.

Clarke and Simecek combined to form the Aggies' best doubles pairing in terms of total victories. That duo competed in seven matches on flight two and another five on line three, finishing the regular season with a mark of 5-6. No Aggie doubles pairing produced more WAC wins than Clarke and Simecek who went 2-2 in league tandem matches.

In his debut collegiate season, Stavrovskij worked his was into the Aggies' lineup exclusively on line six of singles play. The Prague, Czech Republic, native played his way to a 5-3 record in singles action which included a 2-1 mark in WAC matches. In doubles play, Stavrovskij took the court with three partners through the course of the season and went a combined 4-7 across those matches. The freshman has won each of his last three singles matches headed into WAC Tournament action.

Visser saw playing time on lines two, three, four and five of singles action for NM State and finished the regular season with a 3-10 mark which included a 2-2 record against WAC competition. Much like his singles bouts, Visser bounced around all three lines of doubles play for the Aggies as well. When paired with Menard, they put forth a combined 4-1 record and split those wins evenly on lines one and three. All told, Visser's 7-7 doubles record contains the most tandem victories of any Aggie this season.

Buitrago, Clarke, Menard, Simecek, Stavrovskij, Visser and the rest of the Aggies begin their run in the 2021 WAC Men's Tennis Tournament Saturday at 1:00 p.m. from the NM State Tennis Center. Serving as the host institution for the league's championship event, NM State is the second seed and will face off against third-seeded Seattle in one of the two semifinal bouts that day. The winner will move on to the WAC Tournament title match which is set for 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

2021 Men's Tennis All-WAC Teams
First Team All-WAC Singles
No. 1 - Valentin Lang, Grand Canyon
No. 2 - Nicolas Buitrago, NM State
No. 3 - Justin Cvitanovic, Grand Canyon
No. 4 - Jonathan Da Silva, Grand Canyon
No. 5 - Pedro Alvarez, Chicago State
No. 6 - Freddie Grant, Grand Canyon

First Team All-WAC Doubles
No. 1 - Valentin Lang and Jiri Novak, Grand Canyon
No. 2 - Mariano Argote and Justin Cvitanovic, Grand Canyon
No. 3 - Freddie Grant and Loic Van Zeggelaar, Grand Canyon

Second Team All-WAC Singles
Mariano Argote, Grand Canyon
Corey Clarke, NM State
Louis Menard, NM State
Jiri Novak, Grand Canyon
Eli Ogilvy, Seattle U
Jakub Zamorski, Chicago State

Second Team All-WAC Doubles
Lucas Cerbelli and Eli Ogilvy, Seattle U
Corey Clarke and Martin Simecek, NM State
Javier Sanchez Pradillo and Pedro Alvarez, Chicago State

Player of the Year: Valentin Lang, Grand Canyon
Freshman of the Year: Jonathan Da Silva, Grand Canyon
Coach of the Year: Gregory Prudhomme, Grand Canyo

All-WAC Honorable Mention
Petr Stavrovskij, NM State
Jordy Visser, NM State
Julian Worn, Seattle U

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