Four Spartans earn postseason SoCon men's tennis honors

Orcun Seyrek

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Orcun Seyrek, Timion Meijs and Ahmet Sarioglu earned All-Southern Conference honors and Sarioglu and Chanon Varapongsittikul landed spots on the SoCon All-Freshman Team as the league office announced the 2011 postseason awards Tuesday. The awards were voted on by the conference's 11 head coaches.

Seyrek, a junior, took first-team honors for the third straight season. The Istanbul, Turkey, native is 20-10 overall and 12-8 in dual matches, including an 8-2 mark in SoCon play. Seyrek was a two-time SoCon Player of the Week this season.

Seyrek and Meijs, a sophomore from Utrech, The Netherlands, earned first-team distinction in doubles play. UNCG's No. 1 duo is 7-6 together, with a 6-4 mark in SoCon play. Seyrek was one of just two student-athletes in the league to earn first-team honors in singles and doubles. Elon's Philip Nemec was the other.

Sarioglu earned second-team honors at No. 4 singles. The freshman from Ankera, Turkey, leads UNCG in wins this season with a 22-9 record, including a 15-5 dual mark and an 8-2 SoCon ledger.

Varapongsittikul is 21-10 overall this season for the Spartans, including a 14-6 dual mark and a 6-4 record in SoCon play. The Bangkok, Thailand, freshman teamed with Sarioglu in doubles play, with the tandem going 9-6 together, including a 7-5 mark at No. 3.

UNCG was the only team in the league with multiple members on the All-Freshman Team.

Georgia Southern's Juan Melian Puigventos was the SoCon Player of the Year, Elon's Cameron Silverman was the Freshman of the Year, Elon's Alberto Rojas won the Don Bunch/Buddy Hartsell Sportsmanship Award and Elon's Michael Leonard was named the Coach of the Year.

UNCG is 15-5 overall this season and went 8-2 in SoCon play to lock up the third seed in the upcoming Southern Conference Championship. The defending-champion Spartans earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of the Furman-The Citadel match in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.

First Team
Singles
Alex Markov, Appalachian State
Lukas Koncilia, College of Charleston
Philip Nemec, Elon
Juan Melian Puigventos, Georgia Southern
Orcun Seyrek, UNCG
Roberto Vieira, Chattanooga

Doubles
Philip Kloc/Alain Humblet, Appalachian State
Philip Nemec/Chase Helpingstine, Elon
Orcun Seyrek/Timion Meijs, UNCG

Second Team
Singles (by position)
No. 1 – Joe Schafer, Davidson
No. 2 – Mickael Trintignac, College of Charleston
No. 3 – Tom Delme, College of Charleston
No. 4 – Ahmet Sarioglu, UNCG
No. 5 – Alberto Rojas, Elon
No. 6 – Stephen Hardy, College of Charleston

Doubles (by position)
No. 1 – Lukas Koncilia/Kyle Parker, CofC
No. 2 – Tom Delme/Stephen Hardy, CofC
No. 3 – Cameron Silverman/Eric Turner, Elon

All-Freshman
Sebastien King, Appalachian State
Cameron Silverman, Elon
Alex Christ, Furman
Chanon Varapongsittikul, UNCG
Ahmet Sarioglu, UNCG
Fernando Costa, Samford

Player of the Year
Juan Melian Puigventos, Georgia Southern

Freshman of the Year
Cameron Silverman, Elon

Don Bunch/Buddy Hartsell Sportsmanship Award
Alberto Rojas, Elon

Coach of the Year
Michael Leonard, Elon

- UNCG -