BATON ROUGE — LSU tennis players Ajay Ramaswami and Bruna Colosio were named the men’s and women’s players of the year, and the Tigers’ Jeff Brown earned the Louisiana Coach of the Year Award as the 2001 LSWA All-Louisiana collegiate teams were announced on Saturday.
LSU and Tulane combined to place 11 players on the 2001 All-Louisiana Men’s and Women’s Collegiate Tennis teams, and also grabbed six of the eight individual awards sponsored by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and selected by the state’s sports information directors.
LSU’s Ajay Ramaswami was chosen as the men’s player of the year, while LSU’s Bruna Colosio earned the same women’s honor. LSU coach Jeff Brown was picked as the men’s coach of the year. Tulane’s David Schumacher was selected as the women’s coach of the year. Tulane also took the other two individual men’s honors as Michael Kogan was chosen as freshman of the year, and teammate Victor Romero was tabbed as newcomer of the year.
Southeastern Louisiana’s Karin Mohl is the choice as women’s freshman of the year, and Julie Perovic of Louisiana-Monroe is the women’s newcomer of the year.
Brown led LSU to a 16-7 overall record, finishing third in the Southeastern Conference with a 7-4 mark. The 15th-ranked Tigers finished 5-0 against in-state competition and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of Brown’s four seasons at the helm.
Schumacher was selected as the Conference USA coach of the year after leading the Green Wave to its first-ever C-USA championship. The second-year coach also has his 52nd-ranked team into the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
Ramaswami, a senior from Mumbai, India, ranked as high as the No. 7 singles player in the national rankings, and has defeated 17 ranked opponents on the way to an overall 27-14 singles mark. He earned first-team all-SEC honors, leading the Tigers to a third place finish in the league.
Colosio, a junior from Cascaval, Brazil, accumulated a 23-3 overall record
this season, including a 17-2 mark at No. 1 singles. She tallied a perfect 10-0 mark in SEC play, earning first-team all-league honors and the SEC player of the year award. As the No. 8 ranked singles player in the nation, Colosio has improved her career mark to a stellar 84-22 mark in only her third season.
Ramaswami, Kogan and Romero were also all-Louisiana first-team men’s selections, and were joined on the first squad by Viktor Loven of New Orleans, Dan Kiernan of LSU and Mikko Viljanen of Tulane.
The second team consisted of five players, Sebastian Rutka of LSU, Jason Pieters and Jakub Ilowski of Louisiana-Lafayette, Milos Vasovic of Southeastern Louisiana and Bartosz Dabrowski of Louisiana-Monroe.
Colosio was joined on the all-Louisiana women’s first team by Sofia Hallstrom of New Orleans, Anna Monhartova of Tulane, Arina Uratani of Louisiana-Lafayette, and Anne Mette and Anna Doan of Southeastern Louisiana.
SLU’s Mohl was a second-team pick, and was joined by Julie Morris and Nancy Kockott of Tulane, Fernanda Tsucamoto of LSU, Vinca Rampen of Louisiana-Lafayette and Inge Veerman of New Orleans.
2001 LSWA All-Louisiana Men’s Collegiate Teams:
First Team:
Michael Kogan, Tulane
Ajay Ramaswami, LSU
Viktor Loven, New Orleans
Dan Kiernan, LSU
Victor Romero, Tulane
Mikko Viljanen, Tulane
Second Team:
Sebastian Rutka, LSU
Jason Pieters, Louisiana-Lafayette
Milos Vasovic, Southeastern Louisiana
Bartosz Dabrowski, Louisiana-Monroe
Jakub Ilowski, Louisiana-Lafayette
Men’s Player of the Year: Ajay Ramaswami, LSU
Men’s Freshman of the Year: Michael Kogan, Tulane
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Victor Romero, Tulane
Men’s Coach of the Year: Jeff Brown, LSU
2001 LSWA All-Louisiana Women’s Collegiate Teams:
First Team:
Bruna Colosio, LSU
Sofia Hallstrom, New Orleans
Anna Monhartova, Tulane
Arina Uratani, Louisiana-Lafayette
Anne Mette, Southeastern Louisiana
Anna Doan, Southeastern Louisiana
Second Team:
Julie Morris, Tulane
Karin Mohl, Southeastern Louisiana
Fernanda Tsucamoto, LSU
Inge Veerman, New Orleans
Vinca Rampen, Louisiana-Lafayette
Nancy Kockott, Tulane
Women’s Player of the Year: Bruna Colosio, LSU
Women’s Freshman of the Year: Karin Mohl, Southeastern Louisiana
Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Julie Perovic, Louisiana-Monroe
Women’s Coach of the Year: David Schumacher, Tulane