Maximilian Scholl Named Freshman Of The Year; Nikita Zverkov And Jonathan Walker Named All-Conference
April 13, 2016 | Men's Tennis
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- Maximilian Scholl has been named the Big South Conference Men's Tennis Freshman of the year, and the pairing of Scholl and senior Nikita Zverkov were named to the doubles first team all-conference, announced the league office Wednesday afternoon.
Scholl burst on to the scene in just his first season in Boiling Springs, posting a 14-7 singles record, including a 7-1 mark in conference play, which was tied for the most wins in Big South play. The native of Stuttgart, Germany gave Matheson, who is currently ranked 94th in the lastest ITA rankings, his lone loss this season as Scholl beat Matheson, 7-5, 6-1 in GWU's 4-3 victory over Liberty.
The doubles pairing of Scholl and Zverkov garnered First-Team honors after posting a 9-3 mark in the top position, and were tops in the conference with a 5-1 record in Big South play. Scholl and Zverkov started the season paired with different doubles partners, but were put together at the beginning of March and finished the season winning seven of the last eight matches en route to the All-Conference selections.
Jonathan Walker also garnered a spot on the Big South All-Academic team. A standout in the classroom, Walker posts a 3.34 cumulative GPA in the rigorous nursing program at Gardner-Webb.
Walker also proved to be a leader for the Runnin' Bulldogs on the court, posting an 11-6 overall record and was 6-2 against conference opponents. Walker won the deciding match for the Runnin' Bulldogs in their victory against Liberty. The GWU senior lost the first set at no. 6 singles against the Flames, but came back to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to give Gardner-Webb the victory its fourth-straight victory over Liberty.
Gardner-Webb returns to the court tomorrow when it faces the no. 5 seed Liberty in the Big South Tournament. The winner of Thursday's match will face the winner of no. 1 Coastal and either Longwood or Radford, who face each other in Wednesday's first round match.
2016 BIG SOUTH MEN'S TENNIS ALL-CONFERENCE
Singles First Team All-Conference
Sam Matheson, Liberty
Maximilian Scholl, Gardner-Webb
Lukas Schaefer, Campbell
Jabor Al Mutawa, Coastal Carolina
Vuk Vulickovic, Coastal Carolina
Henry Patten, UNC Asheville
Tremayne Mitchell, Winthrop
Pedro Leme, Coastal Carolina
Singles Second Team All-Conference
Diego Quiroz, Winthrop
Danny Bruce, Presbyterian
Eddie Gutierrez, Liberty
Sebastian Schneider, Coastal Carolina
Nicolas Rakitin, Campbell
Alfonso Castellano, Longwood
Thomas Orestis-Panoulas, UNC Asheville
Josh Swindler, UNC Asheville
Doubles First Team All-Conference
Scholl/Zverkov, Gardner-Webb
Matheson/Samaai, Liberty
Leme/Vulickovic, Coastal Carolina
Croker/Landau, UNC Asheville
Doubles Second Team All-Conference
Bruce/Kelley, Presbyterian
Mitchell/Patrick, Winthrop
Rakitin/Sola, Campbell
Patten/Swindler, UNC Asheville
Player of the Year: Sam Matheson, Liberty
Freshman of the Year: Maximilian Scholl, Gardner-Webb
Coach of the Year: Chris Powers, Coastal Carolina
Scholar Athlete of the Year: Diego Manzanas, Jr., Presbyterian College
All-Academic Team
Lukas Schaefer, Soph., Campbell
Vuk Velickovic, Jr., Coastal Carolina
Jonathan Walker, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Egon Samaai, Sr., Liberty
Florian Uffer, Jr., Longwood
Diego Manzanas, Jr., Presbyterian College
Michiel Meekers, Soph., Radford
Thomas Orestis-Panoulas, Sr., UNC Asheville
Steven Patrick, Sr., Winthrop
