April 29, 2011

COMPLETE RELEASE

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Duquesne's Aram Abgaryan has been named the Atlantic 10 Conference's men's tennis Most Outstanding Performer, in voting conducted by the league's head coaches.

In the same vote, Xavier's Jimmy Roebker was tabbed the Most Outstanding Rookie Performer, while Greg Munoz of George Washington garnered A-10 Coach of the Year honors. Steve Herchko of Duquesne was selected as Student-Athlete of the Year in a separate vote of the Conference's sports information directors.

Abgaryan posted an impressive 24-7 overall record at the top singles spot this past year, including a 13-4 mark in the spring and an 8-2 record against fellow A-10 opponents. The Calabasas, Calif., native paced the Dukes to a fourth-place finish at the 2011 A-10 Championship with a straight-set win (6-4, 6-4) on April 15 in the team's 4-1 victory over St. Bonaventure. A two-time Performer of the Week selection, Abgaryan is the first student-athlete in program history to garner Performer of the Year distinction.

Roebker registered a 19-16 overall record this past year, including a 12-9 mark in dual matches at the No. 2 flight. The Ft. Mitchell, Ky., native helped Xavier to the 2011 A-10 Championship title match for the fifth-straight year with a convincing straight-set (6-3, 6-3) victory in the Musketeers' hard-fought 4-3 win over Temple in the semifinals. Roebker becomes only the third Musketeer to earn the Conference's Most Outstanding Rookie Performer distinction, joining Xavier alums Doug Matthews (2006) and Rob Simpson (2003).

Joining Abgaryan and Roebker on the All-Conference first-team is Charlotte's Charles Martin-Lecamp; Peter Carpenter of Duquesne; George Washington's Ugur Atalay, Erik Hannah, Chris Kushma and Yan Levinski; Richmond's Sebastien Fauchet; Chris Post of St. Bonaventure; Temple's Filip Rams; and Bobby Deye of Xavier.

The All-Conference second-team consists of Charlotte's Mike Anders and Moritz Bernhoerster; Alex van Gils and Viktor Svensson of George Washington; Richmond's Jesse Feder; St. Bonaventure's Enric Larregola and Mikhail Sudakov; Alex Veronis of Saint Joseph's; Temple's Dmitry Vizhunov; and Xavier's Mesa Mei and Brandon MacDonald.

Herchko posted a 20-11 overall record during the 2010-11 campaign, including a 14-6 record in the spring and an 11-3 mark at the No. 5 position. The local Pittsburgh product is a member of the Dean's List, A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Duquesne's Director of Athletics Honor Roll. Herchko, a senior, maintains a 3.65 cumulative grade-point average as a physics major.

Joining Herchko on the Academic All-Conference team is Abgaryan, Levinski, and Larregola, along with Temple's Mansur Gishkaev and Kacper Rams.

Now in his fifth season at George Washington, Munoz earns his first A-10 Coach of the Year citation after guiding the Colonials to a 4-0 defeat of three-time defending champion Xavier at the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship and the program's first league crown since 1979.