Big South Announces 2025 Men's Tennis Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (
www.BigSouthSports.com) – Gardner-Webb’s
Eduardo Dias (Parana, Brazil) has been voted the 2025 Big South Men’s Tennis Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today. Runnin’ Bulldogs’ head coach
Mike Griffith was voted Coach of the Year, Gardner-Webb’s
Alexandre Bergeron (Montreal, Quebec) was selected Freshman of the Year by the group, and Longwood’s
Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva (Corrientes, Argentina) and UNC Asheville’s
Olle Sonesson Lidholt (Malmo, Sweden) shared Newcomer of the Year honors. UNC Asheville junior
Tarek Erlewein (Stuhr, Germany) was voted Men’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
For the second consecutive year, Dias is the Big South Conference Player of the Year after a dominant spring campaign. The Parana, Brazil, native posted an astounding 16-4 overall record at No.1 singles action while compiling a 12-5 record in No. 1 doubles action with Boyd Schreiber. Dias earned a straight-set win over Joaquim Almeida of No. 72 Liberty.
Bergeron received Big South Conference Freshman of the Year honors after a successful rookie campaign that saw a record of 17-4 during primarily No. 4 singles action. Bergeron also tallied wins at No. 2 and 3 singles for the ‘Dawgs. Bergeron tallied a key win over No. 72 Liberty while also clinching the match for Gardner-Webb on several occasions over the course of the season.
Griffith earns his third consecutive Big South Coach of the Year honor and fourth overall after directing the Runnin’ Bulldogs to the outright Big South regular-season title and No. 1 seed in this week’s Big South Men’s Tennis Championship. This spring, Griffith led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to a 17-4 overall record and their second consecutive outright Big South Conference Regular Season Championship.
Gonzalez Paiva earned Co-Big South Newcomer of the Year after going 15-16 in singles overall in all competition. He was was 7-10 in dual action and 5-3 at No. 3 singles. Gonzalez Paiva was a team-leading 14-9 in doubles play, including finishing 8-4 in spring duals and 8-3 from the top doubles flight. Gonzalez Paiva was named Big South Player of the Week on March 26, playing to a perfect 4-0 record as the Lancers topped George Mason and Howard.
Lidholt was also named to the All-Conference Second Team for Singles while he and Erlewein were named a Second Team All-Conference tandem in doubles. Lidholt won eight matches in singles play including one in conference and five at his No. 3 position, while he and Erlewein went 2-1 at No. 2 doubles in conference and 2-2 on the season.
In addition to Erlewein’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor and spot on the Big South Conference All-Academic Team, he was named to the All-Conference First Team in Singles and to the All-Conference Second Team along with Lidholt in Doubles. Erlewein posted 11 wins in singles play, including going a perfect 3-0 in conference and earning the last two Big South Conference Player of the Week honors of the regular season. Academically, Erlewein boasts a 3.99 grade point average in a double major of business and economics. UNC Asheville now has had back-to-back Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards for the first time since Charlie Morkel in 2020 and 2021.
2025 Big South Conference Men’s Tennis Award Winners
First Team All-Conference Singles
Eduardo Dias, Gardner-Webb
David Mamalat, Presbyterian College
Timeo Puech, Longwood
Freddy Murray, UNC Asheville
Tarek Erlewein, UNC Asheville
Kim Niethammer, Gardner-Webb
First Team All-Conference Doubles Teams
Timeo Puech & Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva, Longwood
Eduardo Dias & Boyd Schreiber, Gardner-Webb
Numa Lemieux-Monette & Kaua Cressoni, Gardner-Webb
Marko Mrdak & Alejandro Uribe, Longwood
Second Team All-Conference Singles
Numa Lemieux-Monette, Gardner-Webb
Alexandre Bergeron, Gardner-Webb
Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva, Longwood
Daksh Prasad, Presbyterian College
Olle Sonesson Lidholt, UNC Asheville
Alex Lepine, Gardner-Webb
Second Team All-Conference Doubles Teams
Freddy Murray & Cian Ingles, UNC Asheville
Alex Lepine & Johan Van Wijk, Gardner-Webb
Olle Sonesson Lidholt & Tarek Erlewein, UNC Asheville
Eduardo Valentin & Denim Yadav, Presbyterian College
All-Academic Team
Numa Lemieux-Monette, Gardner-Webb
Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva, Longwood
Denim Yadav, Presbyterian College
Evan Edwards, Radford
Tarek Erlewein, UNC Asheville
Player of the Year
Eduardo Dias, Gardner-Webb
Freshman of the Year
Alexandre Bergeron, Gardner-Webb
Coach of the Year
Mike Griffith, Gardner-Webb
Co-Newcomer of the Year
Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva, Longwood
Olle Sonesson Lidholt, UNC Asheville
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Tarek Erlewein, UNC Asheville