Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Land a Pair on All-Big Ten First Team
4/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 25, 2013
Senior Spencer Wolf (Coral Springs, Fla./Laurel Springs) and junior Raleigh Smith (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) were both named to the All-Big Ten first team Thursday as selected by the conference's head men's tennis coaches.
It is the first time that Northwestern has had an individual named first-team all-conference since 2006 when Christian Tempke earned the distinction. The last time NU had two players on the All-Big Ten first team was 2005 when Tempke and Tommy Hanus both picked up the honor.
Wolf completed the regular season with a 14-11 singles record in dual meet action, including a 5-6 record in Big Ten play while competing at the No. 1 spot in the lineup for the Wildcats. He also notched a 6-5 conference record in doubles while alternating at all three spots in Northwestern's lineup. His best singles win of the season came on Feb. 8 when he defeated then-No. 20 Gonzales Austin of Vanderbilt in three sets.
Smith, who is ranked No. 87 in this week's ITA singles rankings, posted a 19-7 dual meet singles record, primarily while competing at No. 2. He was 7-4 against Big Ten opponents in singles this year, including notching a three-set win over then-No. 6 Peter Kobelt of Ohio State on April 14. Smith got his season off to a great start back in the fall when he won both the singles and doubles title (with Sidarth Balaji) at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
In addition, senior Chris Jackman was named the team's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen to receive the honor are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These student-athletes must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Northwestern (21-8 overall) is No. 37 in this week's ITA team rankings. The Wildcats are seeded fifth for the Big Ten tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and will face fourth-seeded Illinois at 11 a.m. Central time Friday after defeating 12th-seeded Iowa 4-1 in an opening-round matchup Thursday.
2013 MEN'S TENNIS ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS
First-Team All-Big Ten*
JARED HILTZIK, Illinois
Josh MacTaggart, Indiana
Sam Monette, Indiana
EVAN KING, Michigan
Aaron Pfister, Michigan State
ROK BONIN, Minnesota
Leandro Toledo, Minnesota
Raleigh Smith, Northwestern
Spencer Wolf, Northwestern
PETER KOBELT, Ohio State
Devin McCarthy, Ohio State
BLAZ ROLA, Ohio State
Connor Smith, Ohio State
Second-Team All-Big Ten
Tim Kopinski, Illinois
Barrett Franks, Michigan
Drew Lied, Michigan State
Chris Diaz, Ohio State
Szymon Tatarczyk, Purdue
Unanimous selections in CAPS
* Additional honorees due to a tie
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Athlete of the Year: Evan King, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Jared Hiltzik, Illinois
Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State
SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Bruno Abdelnoor, Illinois
Chris Essick, Indiana
Jonas Dierckx, Iowa
Alex Petrone, Michigan
Denis Bogatov, Michigan State
Jack Hamburg, Minnesota
Marc Herrmann, Nebraska
Chris Jackman, Northwestern
Blaz Rola, Ohio State
CJ Griffin, Penn State
Krisztian Krocsko, Purdue
Petr Satral, Wisconsin
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