Men's Tennis All-Conference Selections Announced

Lee of Middlebury Nets Player of the Year

HADLEY, Mass. – Middlebury senior Andrew Lee (Eden Prairie, Minn.) has been named the NESCAC Player of the Year, as determined by the conference coaches. Fresh off winning the 2010 NESCAC Men’s Tennis Championship over the past weekend at Amherst College, the Panthers’ six title in the last seven years, Lee and company head into this year’s NCAA Tournament with an 18-2 overall record in search of their first national title since 2004.

An All-NESCAC Second Team Singles selection in each of the last two years, Lee earned First Team Singles for the first time in his career as he is 12-1 primarily at #2 for the Panthers with wins over every conference opponent he has faced this spring. His doubles play with classmate Andrew Thomson (Bloomfield, Mich.) has been equally impressive, going 14-2 in dual match action at #1 and winning both the ITA New England Regional and National Small College Championships in the fall. Thomson joined Lee in earning Singles First Team plaudits during his final season in the league, as the 2007 Rookie of the Year is 10-1 mainly at #4 for Middlebury. He previously earned Second Team Singles and Doubles in 2009 and First Team Doubles in 2008.

Junior Andrew Peters (Baltimore, Md.) rounded out the trio of Andrews from Middlebury on the All-Conference First Team with a Singles nod. Peters is 11-3 in duals primarily at #1 and won the ITA New England Regional Championship over fellow Panther Thomson in three sets in September. He went on to finish as the runner-up at the ITA national tournament weeks later. Also from Middlebury on the All-NESCAC First Team were senior doubles partners Conrad Olson (Waterloo, Belgium) and Eliot Jia (Mount Desert, Maine). Olson, the 2006 NESCAC Rookie of the Year and the 2009 Co-Player of the Year, paired up with Jia and are 13-3 since mid-March.

Back for a third tour on the All-NESCAC First Team Singles was Bowdoin junior Stephen Sullivan (Miami, Fla). After going 18-5 at #2 for the Polar Bears in his first year in the league to earn NESCAC Rookie of the Year, Sullivan moved up to the #1 spot and posted an 11-5 record in dual match play last season. This spring, Sullivan continued his impressive play at #1 for Bowdoin and went 9-4 overall in duals.

Amherst sophomore Austin Chafetz (Palos Verdes, Calif.) moved up to the First Team from the 2009 Second Team at singles. Honored as the top first year player in the conference last May, Chafetz was part of a recurring theme on this year’s All-NESCAC First Team as all four of the previous NESCAC Rookies of the Year were among the 10 individuals honored. Competing at #1 singles all season, Chafetz is 12-4 entering NCAA Tournament play.

Williams senior Nick Lebedoff (Minneapolis, Minn.) added his second First Team Singles honor while with the Ephs. Lebedoff opened the season at #1 for the Ephs but recently has been playing at #2 and has compiled an 8-6 dual record. NESCAC Rookie of the Year went to first year teammate Felix Sun (Potomac, Md.). Sun, a Second Team Singles member this spring, has gone from the #3 spot to #1 in the Williams order and is 10-4 so far. He lost in the semifinals to Thomson of Middlebury during the ITA New England Regional Championship.

Trinity senior Spencer Feldman (Upper Brookville, N.Y.) capped an impressive career with First Team Doubles recognition alongside sophomore teammate Anson McCook (Miami, Fla.). The tandem went 10-4 in dual match play at #1 for the Bantams and finished as runner-up at the Middlebury Invitational and the ITA New England tournament in September. Feldman also received Second Team Singles honors after being named to the First Team in the previous two seasons.

Bowdoin senior Jamie Neely (Quincy, Mass.) earned the Clarence Chaffee Sportsmanship Award. The Clarence Chaffee Award is given annually to the individual who best combined and displayed a high standard of tennis coupled with the highest level of sportsmanship. A former ITA Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award winner and member of the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Team in 2008 and 2009 and All-Academic squad in 2009, Neely will graduate from Bowdoin this spring at the top of his class having competed at the highest level in tennis. Neely was 10-5 in singles play at #4 and 5-10 in doubles action at #1 this past season.

Middlebury head coach David Schwarz was the choice among the coaches for NESCAC Coach of the Year. It was the fourth time that Schwarz has won the honor, as he earned it outright in 2002 and shared the award in 2004 and again in 2008.