SKILLMAN, N.J. – Senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski of the LSU men’s tennis team were named to the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-America Team, the ITA announced recently.
Skupski and Carlsson both claimed doubles All-America honors after an excellent 2011 campaign in which the duo notched a 29-12 overall record and a Top-10 ranking in the final ITA poll.
To capture a position as an ITA Doubles All-American, a player must earn a top-eight seed in the NCAA Doubles Championships, reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championships or finish among the top-10 tandems in the ITA’s Final Rankings.
Carlsson and Skupski advanced to the second-round of the NCAA Doubles Championships as a 5-8 seed and finished the season ranked 10th in the ITA doubles standings.
“For Sebastian this is a great culmination to his stellar four-year career,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “It’s fitting for him to be an athletic All-American as well as a three-time academic All-American. Neal has proven himself to be one of the best doubles players in collegiate tennis now being a doubles All-American with two different partners. He’ll set himself up to try and earn it in both singles and doubles next season.”
Skupski garnered doubles All-America honors in 2008 with then-doubles partner Michael Venus, as they finished the season ranked No. 7 in the polls.
He becomes just the second player in LSU men’s tennis history to be named a two-time doubles All-American, joining former Tiger Michal Chmela who captured the status in 1998 and 2000.
This is the first athletic All-America honor for Carlsson, who earned academic All-America honors as an ITA Scholar Athlete in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
As a program, LSU has produced 43 All-American honors, including 17 doubles All-Americans.
PAST LSU DOUBLES ALL-AMERICANS:
Felix Barrientos (1988)
Jeff Brown (1988)
Danny Bryan (2007)
Sebastian Carlsson (2011)
Michal Chmela (1998, 2000)
Tamer El Sawy (1992)
Tom Furukrantz (1990)
Colt Gaston (2007)
Mark Growcott (2005)
Tom Hand (1998)
Dan Kiernan (2000)
Mario Pacheo (1992)
Juha Pesola (1993)
Ken Skupski (2005)
Neal Skupski (2009, 2011)
Michael Venus (2009)
Michael Westbrooks (1993)