OXFORD, Miss. — LSU’s Bryan Fisher, Jason Hazley and Peter Richman were each named All-Southeastern Conference on Wednesday as the 2003 SEC Awards were handed out at the annual banquet held here in Oxford, Miss.
“This is a huge honor for our guys,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “The SEC is definitely the premier conference in the nation, and for our guys to be represented as some of the best in the conference is a major accomplishment. I’m extremely proud of what they’ve done this season, but we still have a lot of tennis to play and we just need to focus on beating Arkansas tomorrow.”
LSU’s combination of Fisher and Hazley, the nation’s 21st-ranked doubles team, was named First-Team All-SEC on Wednesday, while the Tigers’ 52nd-ranked Richman earned Second-Team honors. The all-conference awards proved to be the first for each of the Tigers.
Fisher and Hazley, the 2002 SEC Indoor Champions, have posted a 20-10 overall record this season and have accumulated an 11-8 mark dual play. The Tigers’ nationally-ranked tandem has defeated three top-50 ranked opponents and has registered a 10-8 mark while playing the No. 1 doubles position.
Richman, LSU’s fleet sophomore from Toronto, Canada, has compiled a 5-3 record at the tumultuous No. 1 singles position. The Tiger lefthander owns a 16-16 overall record on the season and has defeated six top-100 ranked opponents. Richman’s crucial victories include wins over Auburn’s 10th-ranked Rameez Junaid, Texas’ No. 28 Jean Simon and the 30th-ranked Catalin Gard of Ole Miss.
Vanderbilt head coach Ken Flach, Vanderbilt junior Bobby Reynolds and Florida freshman Janne Holmia paced the 2003 SEC Awards on Wednesday. Flach was named the SEC Coach of the Year, Reynolds garnered SEC Player of the Year honors and Holmia was named SEC Freshman of the Year.
Voted on by the league’s coaches, Flach earned SEC Coach of the Year honors for the first time in his career. This is his seventh season at Vanderbilt, where he has compiled a 84-90 career record. His Vanderbilt squad enters the SEC Tournament with the No. 2 seed.
Reynolds won the SEC Player of the Year honor to give Vanderbilt their first award since it was sanctioned by the league in 1993. The Acworth, Ga., native finished the regular season with a 19-1 singles record in dual matches. He was the only player in the SEC at the No. 1 position to go undefeated during the regular season.
Holmia earned the fourth-ever SEC Freshman of the Year award. A native of Tampere, Finland, he becomes the first Gator to win this accolade. Holmia is 18-4 at the No. 2 position in dual matches this season, with a 9-1 SEC record. He was also named first-team All-SEC.
The 18th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will begin competition in the 2003 SEC Tournament on Thursday as the fifth-seeded Tigers take on the 12th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks at 8 a.m. here in Oxford, Miss.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-SEC Rameez Junaid, Auburn
Janne Holmia, Florida
Hamid Mirzadeh, Florida
Bo Hodge, Georgia
Jesse Witten, Kentucky
Bryan Fisher, LSU
Jason Hazley, LSU
Alex Hartman, Ole Miss
Claes Lindholm, Ole Miss
Romain Ambert, Mississippi State
Chad Harris, Vanderbilt
Bobby Reynolds, Vanderbilt
SECOND-TEAM ALL-SEC
Maxim Belski, Alabama
Chris McDonald, Florida
Nicolas Boeker, Georgia
Peter Richman, LSU
Catalin Gard, Ole Miss
Paul Ciorascu, Ole Miss
Angelo Niculescu, South Carolina
Seth Rose, South Carolina
Mark Dietrich, Tennessee
Simon Rea, Tennessee
Scott Brown, Vanderbilt
Matt Lockin, Vanderbilt
SEC COACH OF THE YEAR
Ken Flach, Vanderbilt
SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Bobby Reynolds, Vanderbilt
SEC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Janne Holmia, Florida