BATON ROUGE — Five LSU men’s tennis players were recognized by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association on Monday as the Tigers’ Paul White was named the Louisiana Freshman of the Year, Peter Richman earned First-Team honors and Bryan Fisher, Jason Hazley and Cory Ross were each named to the Second Team.
White, a native of Lake Charles, was named the Louisiana Freshman of the Year on Monday as the Tigers’ No. 6 singles player posted a 16-15 overall record on the season and earned a crucial 6-4 mark versus Southeastern Conference opponents. With the honor, White became the second-straight LSU player to receive the award after Hazley was named the Louisiana Freshman of the Year last season.
LSU’s Richman, the 62nd-ranked player in the nation, was named First-Team All-Louisiana for the second year in a row on Monday as the Tigers’ junior finished the season with a 16-18 overall singles record.
Richman, the Tigers’ native of Toronto, Canada, competed at the No. 1 singles position in the tumultuous SEC and ended the 2002-03 campaign with six wins over ranked opponents. As a sophomore, Richman earned victories against Auburn’s 10th-ranked Rameez Junaid, Texas’ 28th-ranked Jean Simon and Ole Miss’ 34th-ranked Catalin Gard.
A trio of Tigers were named to the All-Louisiana Second Team on Monday as Fisher, Hazley and Ross each earned the distinction.
Fisher, LSU’s junior from Nashville, Tenn., earned the first All-Louisiana honor of his career, while Hazley and Ross garnered their second-straight honors. Last season, Hazley was named First-Team All-Louisiana and Ross was named to the Second Team.
Ross led the Tigers in victories during the 2003 dual-match season as the native of Littleton, Colo., finished with a stellar 24-11 overall record and as the 117th-ranked player in the nation. Fisher and Hazley both finished the year with 16 wins. Fisher accumulated a 16-17 singles record, while Hazley compiled a 16-20 mark.
Tulane’s Robert Klein was named the Louisiana Coach of the Year on Monday, while the Green Wave’s Michael Kogan earned Player of the Year honors and Dmitriy Koch was named the Newcomer of the Year.
All-Louisiana Men’s Tennis Team
First Team
Jakub Illowski, UL-Lafayette
Dmitriy Koch, Tulane
Michael Kogan, Tulane
Viktor Loven, UNO
Peter Richman, LSU
Victor Romero, Tulane
Second Team
Bryan Fisher, LSU
Jason Hazley, LSU
Cory Ross, LSU
Matt Tate, Southeastern
Milos Vasovic, Southeastern
Mattias Westerberg, Tulane
Coach of the Year: Robert Klein, Tulane
Player of the Year: Michael Kogan, Tulane
Freshman of the Year: Paul White, LSU
Newcomer of the Year: Dmitriy Koch, Tulane