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DENVER- The 2018 All-WAC men's tennis teams have been named, following a vote of the WAC's six head coaches. NM State's Christofer Goncalves headlines the awards, earning WAC Player of the Year honors, while Kansas City's Diego Giraldo was named WAC Freshman of the Year and Kansas City's Kendell Hale earned WAC Coach of the Year honors.
Goncalves was named WAC Player of the Year after going 5-0 for the second year as NM State's No. 1 singles player in WAC play. He has not lost in the regular season conference play since his freshman campaign while he went 4-1 and earned Freshman of the Year honors back in 2015. This marks the second consecutive year Goncalves has been recognized as Player of the Year.
Giraldo earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors after going 4-1 at the No. 3 singles position in WAC matches. He also paired up with teammate Tom Kruse in doubles play at No. 2 to represent the ‘Roos. The duo went 5-0 in conference play and look to continue it in the tournament.
Hale earned WAC Coach of the Year for the first time on the men's side after leading Kansas City to a perfect 5-0 conference play record. He looks to help his team head back to the NCAA Tournament after participating last year. He was recognized as WAC Coach of the Year last year for women's tennis.
The complete All-WAC teams are listed below.
First Team All-WAC Singles
No.1 Christofer Goncalves, NM State
No. 2 Lorenzo Fucile, Grand Canyon
No. 3 Tom Kruse, Kansas City
No. 4 Lucas Grego, Grand Canyon
No. 5 Mauri Benitez, NM State
No. 6 Louis Menard, NM State
First Team All-WAC Doubles
No. 1 Alex Pozo and Airam Castellano, Kansas City
No. 2 Tom Kruse and Diego Giraldo, Kansas City
No. 3 Lucas Grego and Freddie Grant, Grand Canyon
Second Team All-WAC Singles
Gregoire Balenci, Grand Canyon
Airam Castellano, Kansas City
Stijn de Haan, NM State
Sergi Espias, NM State
Mathieu Rajaonah, Grand Canyon
Felix Savard, Chicago State
Second Team All-WAC Doubles
Mauri Benitez and Stijn de Haan, NM State
Christian Gonzalez and Felix Savard, Chicago State
Louis Menard and Enrique Asmar, NM State
Player of the Year: Christofer Goncalves, NM State
Freshman of the Year: Diego Giraldo, Kansas City
Coach of the Year: Kendell Hale, Kansas City