Jim Boyin was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. |
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Five Members of A-10 Champs Earn All-League Honors
April 19, 2007
Charlotte, NC - Five members of the Atlantic 10 champion Charlotte 49ers men's tennis team earned All-Atlantic 10 honors. Junior Roy Sichel was named A-10 Most Outstanding Performer for the second straight season. Coach Jim Boykin earned A-10 Coach of the Year honors for the first time in his career. Senior Dorian Host was named A-10 Men's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year. A school-record four players were named All-Atlantic 10. Sichel and senior Darren Mansell were named first-team All-Atlantic 10. Host and sophomore Aljoscha Jelinek were named second-team All-Atlantic 10. Host and Sichel were also named to the A-10 Academic All-Conference team for the second straight year.
"I am very proud of all four players that earned All-Atlantic 10 honors," Boykin said. "They certainly deserve those honors for the seasons that each of them had. Being named Coach of the Year is quite an honor and it is tribute to all the hard work that everyone on our team put in this season."
Sichel has claimed a league individual honor in each of his three collegiate seasons. As a freshman in 2005, he was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year. The past two seasons, he was named A-10 Most Outstanding Performer. This season, he did not lose a singles' match in the A-10 Championships for the second straight year. He is the first player in the program's history to be named first-team all-conference twice. He will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 28-11 overall singles record and an 18-5 mark in dual matches at number one singles. He currently has 73 career singles' wins which is the fifth highest total in the program's history.
With a 3.0 GPA in international business, Sichel earned his second A-10 Academic All-Conference honor.
Host became the second straight 49er to earn A-10 Men's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year honors as Zvi Lantsberg claimed the honor last season. Host has a 3.81 GPA in international business and finance. Host earned All-Conference honors for the first time in his career. He collected 13 singles' wins this season and none more important than his match-clinching victory over Mike Dieciuc of Xavier in the A-10 championship match propelling the 49ers to their first-ever league title and NCAA Tournament bid. He has collected double-figure singles wins in each of his four seasons at Charlotte.
Boykin was named Coach of the Year after guiding the 49ers to the Atlantic 10 Championship. Boykin, who is in his 14th season at Charlotte, is the program's all-time winningest coach with 172 wins. The 49ers 17 wins this season are the most by the 49ers during the Boykin era and the most in school history since 18 wins in 1985. He is a perfect 8-0 in regular season matches against A-10 teams in two seasons in the league.
Mansell joined Sichel to give the 49ers a tough 1-2 punch at the top of their lineup. This season, he won a career-high 17 singles matches with 15 of those victories coming at number two singles. He won all three of his matches in the A-10 Championships including a straight-sets win over first-team All-Atlantic 10 performer Xavier's Jeremy Miller in the championship. He has also teamed with Sichel to form the 49ers number two doubles team. They have won seven of their last ten matches including victories over doubles teams from St. Bonaventure and Xavier in the A-10 Championship.
Jelinek enjoyed a solid season for the 49ers. He was one of six players on the team with double-figure singles' wins with 10. He helped the 49ers win their A-10 quarterfinal match with a straight-sets win over Saint Joseph's Matt Glasgow at number four singles. He teamed with Host to post an 8-1 victory at number three doubles over Victor Lecina and Diego Valdenegro of St. Bonaventure in the semifinals. He teamed with Brad Clinard to post a 9-8 doubles point clinching victory over Xavier's Dieciuc and Anthony Palmenter in the A-10 Championship match.
Boykin, Host, Jelinek, Mansell and Sichel and the rest of the 49ers men's tennis team return to action when they make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, May 11.
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