Big South Announces 2023 Men's Tennis Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (
www.BigSouthSports.com) – Presbyterian College sophomore
Dusan Milanovic (Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina)) has been voted the 2023 Big South Men’s Tennis Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced Thursday. Gardner-Webb head coach
Mike Griffith was voted Coach of the Year and PC’s
Denim Yadav (Indore, India) was selected Freshman of the Year by the group. Gardner-Webb senior
Victor Putter (Pretoria, South Africa) was voted Men’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Milanovic is the second Blue Hose player in three seasons to be voted Player of the Year and third time overall. The highest-ranked Big South player in the nation at No. 63, Milanovic was undefeated (4-0) against Big South competition at the top singles flight. He was 17-2 in singles action (31-6 overall), as he played every spring match at the No. 1 position for the Blue Hose. Milanovic was also 2-0 vs. nationally-ranked opponents, was the first Big South Player of the Week honoree of the year, and concluded the regular-season winning 10 consecutive matches. Milanovic also earned First-Team All-Conference honors in doubles, where he was 12-7 on court one, including 4-0 in league matches.
Yadav is the second consecutive Blue Hose player to be voted Freshman of the Year, and the fourth overall. He went 10-4 during the regular season playing No. 2, 3 and 4 singles, and was 5-0 in conference play. A four-time Freshman of the Year selection, Yadav won five of eight three-set singles matches.
Griffith earns his second Big South Coach of the Year honor after directing the Runnin’ Bulldogs to a share of the Big South regular-season title and No. 1 seed in this weekend’s Big South Men’s Tennis Championship. Gardner-Webb tied for first in the conference standings at 4-1, while its 15-6 overall record is tops in the league. GWU reeled off a nine-match win streak during the year, and defeated non-conference foes Queens, Wofford, UNC Greensboro, Elon, Furman and Davidson. Gardner-Webb is the No. 1 seed for the second time, and is seeking its first Big South conference championship.
Putter carries a 4.00 GPA as a Mathematics major. He finished the regular-season with a 10-6 record in No. 2 doubles, and was 3-0 in league matches.
2023 Big South Conference Men’s Tennis Award Winners
First Team All-Conference Singles
Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Eduardo Dias, Gardner-Webb
Demis Taramonlis, Radford
Damien Nezar, Campbell
Aditya Balsekar, Radford
Denim Yadav, Presbyterian College
Sam Nicholson, UNC Asheville
Max Benson, Presbyterian College
First Team All-Conference Doubles
Max Benson / Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Eduardo Dias / Chrisjan Van Wyck, Gardner-Webb
Damien Nezar / Benjamin Maes, Campbell
Demis Taramonlis / Dinos Raptis, Radford
Second Team All-Conference Singles
Benjamin Maes, Campbell
Tomas Balazi, Campbell
Javier Matos, Presbyterian College
Kim Niethammer, Gardner-Webb
Lukas Steffen, Campbell
Alex Lepine, Gardner-Webb
Sebastian Dominguez, Presbyterian College
Dinos Raptis, Radford
Second Team All-Conference Doubles
Javier Matos / Sebastian Dominguez, Presbyterian College
Tomas Balazi / Leon Petko, Campbell
Numa Lemieux-Monette / Victor Putter, Gardner-Webb
Jon Brann Reid / Rafa Serra, UNC Asheville
All-Academic Team
Noe Macquart, Campbell
Victor Putter, Gardner-Webb
Yoav Weinberg, Longwood
Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Guilherme Severin, Radford
Jon Brann Reid, UNC Asheville
Player of the Year
Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Freshman of the Year
Denim Yadav, Presbyterian College
Coach of the Year
Mike Griffith, Gardner-Webb
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Victor Putter, Gardner-Webb