ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Three members of the Tusculum University men's tennis team have received postseason All-Conference honors from the South Atlantic Conference, the league office announced Wednesday.
Senior Frank Bonacia was a second-team All-SAC selection in singles, while senior Kenta Kondou and freshman Robin Eldin were third-team honorees in singles. In doubles, Bonacia and Kondou received third-team accolades in voting from the conference's 13 head coaches.
Tusculum finished the regular season 32nd in the ITA Division II team rankings, and tied for third place in the conference with a 9-3 league record and a 12-7 overall mark for first-year head coach Matt Frost.
Bonacia, a second-team All-SAC singles pick for the second straight season, finished with a 9-7 dual match record and was 7-5 in SAC competition during the spring. The Rome, Italy native, who was nationally ranked in singles for much of the spring, went 6-5 at flight one and 3-2 at flight two for the Pioneers. He has a career record of 48-19 in singles in three seasons with the Pioneers.
Kondou went 9-2 at flight three for the Pioneers and was 9-3 in SAC matches, while finishing the season with a team-high 13 victories in dual matches. Kondou, a native of Saitama, Japan, won five of his final six singles matches, all in straight sets, and has a 29-7 singles record in two seasons at Tusculum.
Eldin compiled a 12-5 overall record and is 9-2 in conference matches, with a 6-3 mark at flight four and a 3-0 record at flight two for the Pioneers. Just like Kondou, Eldin ended the regular season by winning five of his last six matches in straight sets.
In doubles, Bonacia and Kondou played together 12 times and went 9-3 as a pairing, including wins in each of their last eight matches. The duo was 8-2 in conference play, going 5-2 at flight two and 3-0 at flight three.
Conference Player of the Year honors went to Edoardo Bottino of Queens, with Freshman of the Year going to Florian Walcher of Wingate. Coach of the Year was Joey Eskridge of Anderson, who led the Trojans to a second-place finish in the league at 10-2.
The Pioneers will face Lenoir-Rhyne in the quarterfinals of the SAC Championship tournament on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina.
2022 SAC Men's Tennis All-Conference
First Team Doubles
Edoardo Bottino/Edoardo Cecere, Queens
Rhodri Atkinson/Josh Lazenby, Lenoir-Rhyne
Edis Nokic/Matteo Gostoli, Wingate
Second Team Doubles
Lars Hordijk/Marc Janse, Carson-Newman
Thibaut Decaluwe/Samuel Winter, Coker
Hugo Nossler/Florian Walcher, Wingate
Third Team Doubles
Greyson Doscotch/Aaron Cabo, Anderson
Win Steveker/Yoan Roussinov, Queens
Frank Bonacia/Kenta Kondou, Tusculum
First Team Singles
Edoardo Bottino, Queens
Florian Walcher, Wingate
Mateo Bivol, Newberry
Rhodri Atkinson, Lenoir-Rhyne
Edoardo Cecere, Queens
Marnix Van Dalen, Carson-Newman
Second Team Singles
Marc Janse, Carson-Newman
Frank Bonacia, Tusculum
Juan Sengariz, Anderson
Lewis Scott, Lenoir-Rhyne
Adam Kush, Anderson
Gjorgji Jankulovski, Carson-Newman
Third Team Singles
Greyson Doscotch, Anderson
Win Steveker, Queens
Kenta Kondou, Tusculum
Juan Luis Yanine, Limestone
Edis Nokic, Wingate
Robin Eldin, Tusculum
Player of the Year: Edoardo Bottino, Queens
Freshman of the Year: Florian Walcher, Wingate
Coach of the Year: Joey Eskridge, Anderson
