May 4, 2009

Complete All-Big Sky Teams in PDF Format

The Eastern Washington University men's tennis team followed up a successful campaign with four players honored by the Big Sky Conference when the All-League awards were announced on Monday morning (May 4). Also, the women's team saw one player earn honorable mention accolades.

On the men's side, Nico Riego de Dios was named to the first team for the second-successive season, Pannhara Mam finished an outstanding career of being named to the first team all four years as an Eagle, and Kyle Schraeder was honored as a first-team member for the final three years of his EWU career. Also, Art Karas earned mention to the second team, the senior's highest honor of his career.

Incredibly, of the 10 times in EWU annals an Eastern men's tennis player has earned first-team honors, nine of those have been achieved by members of the 2009 roster.

On the women's side, Amanda Mankovits finished her career in style, achieving honorable mention accolades for the initial time in her career.

Riego de Dios finished the season one off of the school mark for singles wins in a season with 17 (12 of those at the No. 1 position). He also teamed with Schraeder for 18 doubles victories (18-7), all at the No. 1 position, to set the school mark in that category.

Mam was hampered by injuries, but played at a high level when he returned for Eastern's match on April 4 versus Northern Arizona. From that point on, he went 5-2 in singles and teamed with Daniel Pez for a 5-2 doubles mark, as well.

Schraeder contributed wherever he was needed, going 15-10 in the Nos. 1-4 positions in singles play. Also, he and Riego de Dios became what is believed to be the first nationally-ranked doubles team at the Division I level in Eastern history, ranking 72nd from March 17-30.

Karas had 17 singles victories to tie Riego de Dios for second in Eagle history for a single season. He went 13-5 at No. 3 and 4-2 at the fourth position. He played most of his doubles matches with Kevin Anderson, and the two recorded an impressive 7-1 mark in 2009.

Mankovits played at or near the top of the singles lineup throughout 2009 and recorded a 9-11 mark against top competition. She also teamed up with Marie Demerath for an 8-9 doubles mark, all at the No. 1 position. In fact, she and Demerath tallied 18 career doubles wins, the second-highest total in Eagle history.

The men had an outstanding season, tying the school record for wins (in the NCAA Division I era) with an 18-9 mark. The Eagles also went 6-2 in Big Sky play to place second and advanced to the league's championship match before falling to host and regular-season champion Sacramento State 4-0.

Mankovits helped lead the women's squad to an 8-15 mark, tying for the second-highest win total by an EWU squad since the 1993 team went 10-8 (the 2008 team was 10-14 and the 2007 squad also finished 8-15). The team went 4-4 in Big Sky play and advanced to the Big Sky Tournament.