2009 All-PSAC Men's Tennis Team (pdf)
Lock Haven, Pa. - Lukas Labitsch of Kutztown is this year’s PSAC Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Year. Teammate Kaushik Das is the Freshman of the Year while head coach Suresh Ramamurthi captures the Coach of the Year award as Kutztown swept all three major awards as a part of the 2009 All-PSAC Men’s Tennis team.
In addition to capturing all three major award,s the regular season champion Golden Bears took three of the six spots in singles and one spot out of three in doubles on the all-conference team. They were represented in singles by Labitsch, Das and senior Santiago Baquerizo, a former PSAC Rookie of the Year. Three other teams represented the other three spots in singles as Mercyhurst’s Mijo Cotic, Bloomsburg’s Fernando Perez and Millersville’s Drew Slocum rounded out the team. Labitsch, Perez and Slocum are all repeat selections from last year while Baquerizo has also been an all-conference singles selection twice before. Das, a freshman, and Cotic from league newcomer Mercyhurst, are all first time selections in singles. Perez, the PSAC champion in singles at the individual championships in the fall, is an all-conference pick in both singles and doubles for the second straight year.
The PSAC individual champions at doubles, Labitsch and Arpit Sharma, highlight the all-conference doubles teams. They are joined by Perez and Ryan Glubo of Bloomsburg and by a pair of freshmen in Millersville’s Henry Ben and Donald Swantko. It marks the second straight year on the all-conference team for the Labitsch/Sharma team, and the third straight year as an all-conference doubles performer for Labitsch.
Labitsch is also all-conference in singles for the third straight year. He compiled a singles record of 17-6 overall this year, including 4-0 in the PSAC East while rotating between No. 2 and No. 3 singles. He went 6-3 at No. 2 and 7-0 at No. 3, winning his final 10 matches of the season. He also teamed with Sharma to go 18-3 overall in doubles, including 10-1 at No. 2 doubles and 5-0 in the PSAC East. Overall, Labitsch went 22-6 in doubles.
Das went a combined 6-7 in singles while playing at three different flights, Nos. 1-3. His best mark at a flight in singles was 2-1 at No. 2 and he was also 1-1 in conference play. He also went a combined 10-6 in doubles, teaming with Rubens Vianna to go 9-5 overall, including 7-4 at No. 1 doubles.
This marks the third career Coach of the Year award for Ramamurthi, who led the Golden Bears to both the PSAC regular season and tournament championships. They also captured the NCAA Atlantic Regional title to advance to the NCAA national championships, where they were ousted in the round of 16.
2009 All-PSAC Men’s Tennis Team
Singles
Santiago Baquerizo**^ Kutztown Sr. Guayaquil, Ecuador
Mijo Cotic Mercyhurst Jr. Mississauga, Ontario/St. Aloysius Gonzaga
Kaushik Das Kutztown Fr. Assam, India
Lukas Labitsch**^^^ Kutztown Sr. Bruck an der Mur, Austria
Fernando Perez*^ Bloomsburg So. Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh
Drew Slocum* Millersville So. Shavertown, Pa./Dallas
Doubles
Henry Ben/ Fr. Reading, Pa./Reading
Donald Swantko Millersville Fr. Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga
Lukas Labitsch**^^^/ Sr. Bruck an der Mur, Austria/
Arpit Sharma*^ Kutztown Jr. Kolkata, India
Fernando Perez^/ So. Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh
Ryan Glubo Bloomsburg Sr. Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge
PSAC Athlete of the Year
Lukas Labitsch Kutztown Sr. Bruck an der Mur, Austria
PSAC Freshman of the Year
Kaushik Das Kutztown Fr. Assam, India
PSAC Coach of the Year
Suresh Ramamurthi Kutztown
* Indicates previous All-PSAC singles selection
^ Indicates previous All-PSAC doubles selection