Men's Tennis Earns Multiple Sun Belt Postseason Honors

TROY, Ala. – The Troy men's tennis team collected numerous Sun Belt postseason awards in a vote by the League's head coaches, the Sun Belt Conference announced on Wednesday, April 28. In total, five different Trojans were honored for their stellar seasons.

Carles Anton, who has been one of the best newcomers in the conference, was named the Sun Belt's Freshman of the Year while also earning Second Team All-Sun Belt Singles honors. Joining Anton on the All-Sun Belt teams were Pelayo Antuna, who earned first team singles honors, Amer Bedwan, who was named a second team singles performer and the duo of Nicolas Simkin and Christopher Tasker who earned second team doubles honors.

Anton becomes the third Trojan to be named a conference freshman of the year, joining Irving Morales (A-Sun) and Pelayo Antuna. He earned the freshman of the year honor, and the Second Team All-Sun Belt Singles honor, after an impressive start to his career. Earning an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA due to Covid-19 canceling last season in March, put together an impressive two-year freshman run. After going 19-3 in 2019-20, Anton went 16-3 in 2020-21 season. In dual matched he has earned a 30-4 record in singles and a 31-5 record in doubles with a perfect 4-0 mark in Sun Belt doubles matches. During the 2019-20 season he led the Sun Belt in win winning percentage (.864) and earned the second-most singles victories while going 8-0 at No. 3 singles to post the best mark in the conference. This past season, Anton's 16 singles wins were tied for the second-most in the conference while his eight wins on court two were also tied for the second-most. When he teamed up in with Antuna for doubles, the pair was a perfect 7-0, the best mark in the Sun Belt at the No. 2 position.

Antuna, who earns his second-career First Team All-Sun Belt Singles honor (2019), continued to build upon his already impressive Trojan career. The junior from Spain went 9-6 in singles and 9-4 in doubles this past season after battling back from an early season injury. A mainstay on the top court for Troy throughout his career, Antuna has earned 15 wins on court one over the past two seasons, including a league best eight victories last year. In the Sun Belt Tournament Antuna was a big reason the Trojans advanced to the semifinals, earned a comeback victory against UTA in singles followed by a comeback victory in doubles with teammate Manuel Bernard. On doubles court two he was unbeatable with an 8-0 record, with seven of those wins coming when teaming up with Anton.

Bedwan closed out his Troy career in style. The senior from Montgomery led Troy in singles wins, with 20, for the second time in his career (earned 23 in 2017). During the dual match season, Bedwan earned 17 victories which led the Sun Belt Conference. The majority of his wins, 13, came on court three where he posted a 13-3 record. His 13 wins at the No. 3 spot was eight more than the closest competitor. In doubles action, Bedwan 15-7 during the dual season with a perfect 4-0 mark in Sun Belt matches.

The duo of Simkin and Tasker was one of the top doubles teams in the Sun Belt Conference. The pair combined to go 13-4 on the year, 8-3 on court one and 5-1 on court two. When the two of them joined forces on Feb. 14 against Alabama State they rattled off four straight wins and 12 wins in their next 13 matches. The duo won all 12 of those matches by at least two points and were a perfect 5-0 in Sun Belt doubles matches. In singles matches Tasker was 16-3 in dual matches while Simkin was 15-5.

2021 SUN BELT MEN'S TENNIS POSTSEASON HONORS
Player of the Year - Vazha Shubladze, Georgia State
Newcomer of the Year - Julien Evrard, South Alabama
Player to Watch - Alan Sau Franco, UTA
Freshman of the Year - Carles Anton, Troy
Coach of the Year - Nick Brochu, South Alabama

First Team All-Conference Singles
Vazha Shubladze, Georgia State
Julien Evrard, South Alabama
Clement Marzol, South Alabama
Pelayo Antuna, Troy
Bastien Huon, Coastal Carolina
Angel Diaz, UTA

First Team All-Conference Doubles
Clement Marzol and Loic Cloes, South Alabama
Andrei Duarte and Roberts Grinvalds, Georgia State
Kevin Huynh and Harvey Maughan, Georgia State

Second Team All-Conference Singles
Carles Anton, Troy
Ivailo Keremedchiev, Louisiana
Loic Cloes, South Alabama
Amer Bedwan, Troy
Sebastien Collard, South Alabama
Harvey Maughan, Georgia State

Second Team All-Conference Doubles
Nicolas Simkin and Christopher Tasker, Troy
Ivailo Keremedchiev and Kacper Dworak, Louisiana
Diego Giraldo and Pyry Hyrkkonen, Coastal Carolina

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Troy University Athletics

Men's Tennis Earns Multiple Sun Belt Postseason Honors

Players Mentioned

Carles Anton

Pelayo Antuna

Amer Bedwan

Manuel Bernard

Nicolas Simkin

Christopher Tasker

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