Bryant’s Balestrieri Named Men’s Tennis Player
and Freshman of the Year

- Le Moyne’s Davidson Named F. Paul Bogan Memorial Sportsmanship Award Recipient; Merrimack’s Stevens Selected Coach of the Year -

Sunday, April 27, 2008

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South Easton, Mass. – Bryant University’s Cristian Balestrieri (Mar Del Plata, Argentina) has been named the 2008 Northeast-10 Men’s Tennis Vern Cox Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.

The freshman number one singles player helped lead the Bulldogs to their first Northeast-10 Regular Season Title since 1996. Balestrieri finished conference play at first singles undefeated with an 11-0 record and is currently 17-4 overall. In addition, he was also named to the All Northeast-10 First-Team in singles play.

Le Moyne College’s Ryan Davidson (Glens Falls, N.Y.) earned the 2008 F. Paul Bogan Memorial Sportsmanship Award. Davidson, the Dolphins No. 1 Singles and Doubles player, helped lead his team to the quarterfinals of this year’s Northeast-10 Tournament.

Merrimack College’s head coach Chris Stevens was named the 2008 Northeast-10 Coach of the Year. This marks the first time in his career that he has won the award. Stevens guided the Warriors to an impressive 8-2 record in conference play securing the third seed in this year’s tournament. Merrimack advanced all the way to the semifinals.

The Vern Cox Player of the Year Award is named in honor of the former longtime Springfield College head coach Vern Cox, while the Bogan Memorial Sportsmanship Award is named in honor of the late F. Paul Bogan, Commissioner of the Northeast-10 from 1995-1997.

Sponsoring 23 championship sports and 15 full-time members, the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation and sponsors the most championships of any Division II conference.

-NE-10-

2008 Men's Tennis All Conference

First-Team

No. 1 Singles       Cristian Balestrieri, Bryant
No. 2 Singles       Jose Rodriguez, Bryant
No. 3 Singles       Jason Allegretti, Stonehill
No. 4 Singles       Thomas Nowak, Bryant
No. 5 Singles       Mike Leone, Stonehill
No. 6 Singles       John McGaffigan, Stonehill
No. 1 Doubles      Tim Fayed/Michael Mashkevich, Stonehill
No. 2 Doubles      Thomas Nowak/Jose Rodriguez, Bryant
No. 3 Doubles      Liam Hoare/Tim McHugh, Merrimack

Second-Team

No. 1 Singles      Adam Wilding, Merrimack
No. 2 Singles      John Seaward, Merrimack
No. 3 Singles      Steve Viglione, Merrimack
No. 4 Singles      Will Herchel, Stonehill
No. 5 Singles      Kevin Gardiner, Bryant
No. 6 Singles      Craig Drushella, Bryant
No. 6 Singles      Jon Ravenelle, Merrimack
No. 1 Doubles     John Seaward/Steve Viglione, Merrimack
No. 2 Doubles     Torr Terranova/John Lescure, Saint Michael's
No. 3 Doubles     Chris Darnowski/Corey Boudreau, Saint Anselm

Third-Team

No. 1 Singles      Michael Mashkevich, Stonehill
No. 2 Singles      Tim Fayed, Stonehill
No. 3 Singles      Stephen Sparks, Bentley
No. 4 Singles      Tim McHugh, Merrimack
No. 5 Singles      Liam Hoare, Merrimack
No. 6 Singles      Chris Schoder, Bentley
No. 1 Doubles     Neil Mirchandani/Daniel Klein, Pace
No. 2 Doubles     Jason Allegretti/Will Herchel, Stonehill
No. 3 Doubles     Chris Meeker/Ben Jordan, Le Moyne