CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Queens’ men’s tennis (4-5, 10-5) picked up some hardware at the Conference Carolinas awards banquet Thursday night. The Royals’ regular No. 1,
Christiaan Lee-Daigle (Tecumseh, Ontario, L'Essor Secondary School), was named to the All-Conference First team, while
Joshua Bloch (Johannesburg, South Africa, King David) was voted Freshman of the Year and found his way onto the All-Conference Second team.
Winning Freshman of the Year honors in 2009, this is Lee-Daigle’s second stint on the All-Conference First team. Finding success throughout the year, he proved to be effective as the Royals No. 1 singles (13-4) player. He asserted himself as an elite player early in the season, picking up wins against All-Conference First team members Miguel Lopez Zuniga and Philip Lawson. Lee-Daigle added to his resume with a win over No. 16 Nandor Solymosi of No. 25 Lees-McRae. Not skipping a beat, Lee-Daigle’s success in singles translated in doubles action, finishing with a 9-2 record.
Finishing 11-3 in singles action, Bloch proved to be a force in second flight action. Gaining steam during the year, he spotted in at the top flight, picking up a 2-1 record in those matches. He picked up a series of wins against members of each All-Conference tier: First Team, Philip Lawson; Second Team, Roman Mendoza; and Third Team, Caleb Barnes. Playing with a variety of partners, he split time at the one and three flights en route to a 10-5 doubles record.
The six-seeded Royals will face third-seed Mount Olive Friday afternoon at the Conference Carolinas tournament held in Sumter, S.C.
Player of the Year
Cesar Grobel, Barton
Freshman of the Year
Joshua Bloch, Queens
Coach of the Year
Keith Turner, Limestone
Regular Season Champions
Lees-McRae College
All-Conference First Team
Cesar Grobel, Barton
Nandor Solymosi, Lees-McRae
Stephane Murray, Anderson
Miguel Lopez Zuniga, Limestone
Christiaan Lee-Daigle, Queens
Philip Lawson, Pfeiffer
All-Conference Second Team
Renato Assuncao, Anderson
Nemanja Brcan, Erskine
Shaun Sumner, Lees-McRae
Johan de Wit, Pfeiffer
Roman Mendoza, Barton
Joshua Bloch, Queens
All-Conference Third Team
Paulo Avila, Limestone
Caleb Barnes, Erskine
Jaua Vallejo-Gonzalez, Coker
Travis Vanhoy, Lees-McRae
Angelo Ciarrocchi, Erskine