BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Jacksonville State Head Tennis Coach
Steve Bailey was named the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Tennis Co-Coach of the Year while five Gamecocks were selected to the All-OVC teams on Thursday.
Bailey, who shares the honor with first-year Austin Peay Coach Malik Tabet, earned his second OVC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year, his fifth OVC Coach of the Year honor and the 12th Coach of the Year laurel overall.
Viviane Marani and
Martina Dessbesell represent JSU on the All-OVC Women's Tennis First-Team while Axel Sunberg was named to the First Team on the men's side. Sophomore
Brian Kenyon and freshman
Nenad Marcec was selected All-OVC Second-Team.
Marani earns All-OVC honors for the third straight season and was named to the All-OVC First-Team for the second time in her career. The junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, went 10-11 overall and 7-2 in the OVC at No. 1 singles and teamed with Dessbesell to go 11-8 overall and 8-1 in the OVC at No. 1 doubles.
Dessbesell moves up to the First-Team after taking home All-OVC Second-Team honors the previous two seasons. The Panambi, Brazil, native was 10-9 overall and 8-1 in the OVC at No. 2 singles.
Sunberg played an 8-6 record and a 5-2 OVC mark at No. 2 singles.
Kenyon played in 14 matches after sitting out the early part of the season with a back injury. The Las Vegas, Nevada, native finished 6-8 overall and 3-4 in conference play at No. 1 singles.
Marcec turned in a solid freshman campaign with a 14-5 overall singles record and a 6-1 league mark. The Belgrade, Serbia, native went 9-3 at No. 3 and 5-2 at No. 4 singles and was 4-2 in the OVC at No. 2 doubles with partner
Gustavo Holz.
Jacksonville State travels to Paducah, Ky., for the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Championships this Friday-Saturday. The JSU women are the No. 1 seed after winning its first ever OVC Women's Tennis regular season title and will play the winner of Morehead State-Eastern Kentucky match on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Gamecock men are the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed Murray State on Friday at 10 a.m.