New Orleans, LA– Four Lewis-Clark State Men’s Tennis team members earned honors on the 2023 All-NAIA Unaffiliated Group Men’s Tennis team when it was announced Monday.
“Too bad this was done before the tournament started,” LC coach Kai Fong said. “Any and every recognition we can get is a good thing, especially when we are way out there in locality.”
Freshman Dan Felker earned first-team honors in both singles and doubles. Felker went 12-8 in singles competition including 1-0 during the NAIA Unaffiliated tournament.
Felker and doubles partner Maksim Matyrnyi were named to the first team in doubles. Felker and Matyrnyi teamed up for a 5-4 record in the regular season. The pair then pulled off a major upset over the No. 2 doubles team in the ITA NAIA Rankings in Jacobi Bain and Nereo Suarez of Xavier (La.).
Decland Townsend and Cade Edwards earned second-team honors in both singles and as a doubles pair.
Townsend was 11-7 including 2-0 during the tournament in No. 2 singles competition. The freshman swept past Zach Auguste of Rust in the opening round before battling past Julius Hell of Xavier in three sets.
Edwards is 11-8 on the season. The sophomore lost a tough 6-4, 6-4 contest against Suarez in the semifinals. Townsend and Edwards went 6-2 in No. 2 doubles competition.
“In my books, all of the players are in my all-conference list,” Fong said.