BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Gulf South Conference announced the 2024 All-GSC Team for men's tennis Friday evening.
Sebastian Rondon,
Sebastian Sotelo,
Diego Duran and
Albin Ekenros, the only four Argos with double-digit wins in both singles and doubles this season, were all honored, three of them for the first time in their careers. Head coach
Derrick Racine was also honored as the 2024 GSC Coach of the Year.
Rondon was named All-GSC First Team thanks to his 16-3 overall singles record, including a perfect 9-0 mark in conference play. In doubles play, the sophomore from Hollywood, Fla., is 10-7 overall and 7-2 in conference with partners Duran, Sotelo,
Bernardo Costa and
Denilso Martinez. This comes a year after Rondon placed on the Second Team as a freshman. He is also the No. 22-ranked player in the ITA Singles Rankings and received two GSC Player of the Week awards.
Sotelo also received First Team honors after going 12-6 overall in singles and 6-3 in the GSC. The senior from Resistencia, Argentina, also put up a 10-6 record in doubles, including a 6-1 mark against conference opponents, alongside
Tomas Leston, Rondon and Martinez. He is No. 34 in the Singles Rankings, is No. 42 in the ITA Doubles Rankings with Leston thanks to their 8-1 record together and is coming off his first Player of the Week award.
In being named to the Second Team, Duran adds another accolade to his resume after a fantastic freshman regular season in which he finished 14-1 in singles with the lone loss coming when he retired from a match. The native of San Salvador, El Salvador, also owns doubles records of 10-5 overall and 7-2 in GSC play while alternating between Rondon, Ekenros,
Denilso Martinez and
Mateo Martinez. For his efforts, Duran has taken home five GSC Freshman of the Week awards.
Ekenros rounds out UWF's representatives on the all-conference list as he also garnered Second Team recognition. The junior out of Karlshamn, Sweden, holds a 15-3 singles record and 7-2 in conference, while also going 12-7 overall and 8-2 against GSC foes in doubles play with partners
Joaquin Estevez, Duran,
Mateo Martinez and Costa. He is the fourth Argo to win a weekly award from the conference this season, claiming Player of the Week in week six.
Rounding out the awards for UWF is Racine, the GSC Coach of the Year recipient, who has successfully led the team to the regular season GSC title and looks to earn his 13th GSC Championship with the men as the Argos enter the tournament with the top seed. The award is his 14th on the men's side and his 28th total in his 25 years in charge of UWF tennis.
The quest to sweep the GSC titles and win the program its 15th conference championship and UWF its 123rd in any sport starts tomorrow in the quarterfinals at 10 am against 8-seed Delta State.
For complete information on UWF Tennis, follow the team at @TennisUWF on X and @uwf_menstennis on Instagram.
