2010 Pfeifler, Neuner and Wilson Do Well at Out of Town Tourneys

University Of West Florida Tennis
Decade Of Dominance
July 22, 2010
UWF TENNIS SWEEPS GSC ALL-DECADE AWARDS
Racine named Men's and Women's Tennis Coach of the Decade


	GSC Player of the Decade Radovan Chrz (left) and Coach of the Decade Derrick Racine

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: The Gulf South Conference boasts some of the top programs in the history of Division II tennis, but West Florida stood atop the others as the GSC All-Decade Team was announced by the conference office on Thursday. UWF swept the East Division special awards, as Derrick Racine was named Coach of the Decade for men's and women's tennis and Radovan Chrz and Suzana Cavalcante were named men's and women's Player of the Decade, respectively.

In addition to the special awards, UWF had four men's players and five women's players named to the all-decade team. On the men's side, Chrz was joined by Guillaume deVerbizier, Paulius Jurkenas and Diego Zorzi on the first team. On the women's side, Cavalcante, Sabine Krawietz and Nicole Plikat were first team players while Tania Kovatchka and Andreea Petrisor earned honorable mention.

"We're happy to be honored by the Gulf South Conference," said Racine. "Division II is competitive and the Gulf South is one of the best conferences in D-II. We're honored to be recognized for our hard work, and we've been

"We're also happy to be able to carry on the tradition of success for tennis at UWF," he continued. "(Ralph) 'Skeeter' Carson set a high standard in building the foundation for this program, and we are always striving to live up to that standard."

Chrz, the only male four-time All-American in UWF history across all sports, led the Argonauts to the team's first of two straight national championships in 2004. The native of Prague, Czech Republich also earned All-GSC honors all four seasons, and he was named GSC Player of the Year in 2001 and 2003.

"Radovan was probably the best to ever play at UWF," said Racine. "He was a great guy and also one of our best in the classroom. He led us to our first team national championship, and with his individual titles he was a three-time national champion."

In addition to the NCAA team championship in 2004, Chrz was an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II singles champion in 2000 and 2001. In the fall of his freshman year, Chrz was also the ITA "Super Bowl" singles champion, winning the tournament featuring all players at the Division II, Division III, NAIA and junior college levels.

Of the other three players, all of them were a part of at least one UWF NCAA championship team. Jurkenas (2002-05) was a key player in both 2004 and 2005, and deVerbizier (2003-04) was on the 2004 team and Zorzi (2005-08) on the 2005 team.

FIRST TEAM: Radovan Chrz (2001-04, two-time GSC Player of the Year, four-time first team All-GSC)
FIRST TEAM: Guillaume deVerbizier (2003-04, GSC Player of the Year, two-time first team All-GSC)
FIRST TEAM: Paulius Jurkenas (2002-05, four-time first team All-GSC, 2005 GSC "Top Top" honoree)
FIRST TEAM: Diego Zorzi (2005-08, two-time GSC Player of the Year, three-time first team All-GSC)

Cavalcante's award is an addition to her ever-growing list of honors. The native of Sao Paolo, Brazil is the only female student-athlete across all sports at UWF to earn four All-America selections. She was a four-time All-GSC selection and a three-time GSC Player of the Year.

"Suzana is very deserving of this award," said Racine. "She won pretty much every award you can win at the GSC and Division II levels. She was among the top players in the nation and a team leader for us all four years. She was also a great student-athlete, one of the best we've had at UWF."

As well as her on the court awards, Cavalcante was also a GSC Commissioner's Trophy winner in 2007-08 and an ITA South Region Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award winner in 2008. Following her senior season in 2008-09, she was also a finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year.

FIRST TEAM: Suzana Cavalcante (2006-09, three-time GSC Player of the Year, GSC Commissioner's Trophy)
FIRST TEAM: Sabine Krawietz (2001-04, GSC Player of the Year, South Region Arthur Ashe award)
FIRST TEAM: Nicole Plikat (2003-05, South Region Player of the Year, two-time first team All-GSC)
HONORABLE MENTION: Tania Kovatchka (1999-01, three-time first team All-GSC, two-time All-American)
HONORABLE MENTION: Andreea Petrisor (1999-01, three-time GSC Player of the Year)

Racine came to UWF in 1999, and he has led the Argos tennis teams to national success in his 12 seasons. On the men's side, UWF won national championships in 2004 and 2005, earned seven trips to the NCAA semifinals, and won four GSC championships. With the women's team, Racine led the Argonauts to five trips to the national semifinals, five conference championships, and an NCAA finals appearance in 2001.

The conference also released the top five teams of the decade using a formula based on each team's performance in the all-sports trophy standings the past 10 years. By that formula, West Florida was the top women's team this decade, and the men's team ranked second behind only Valdosta State. The formula was developed by Harding University Sports Information Director Scott Goode.

Thursday's release marks the third consecutive Thursday all-decade release for the GSC following the six-sport fall release and the men's and women's basketball release. The league compiled all-decade teams for five spring sports, excluding women's golf which was added as an official league sport in 2005.

Players could only be nominated for the all-decade team if they competed in at least two seasons during the decade and were also named to the All-GSC first team at least once. Each squad was broken up into first and second teams except for men's tennis. Players and coaches of the decade were selected and honorable mentions were also recognized in special circumstances (for example, those student-athletes that competed in just one season and were an All-GSC first team member during the past decade).

Reprinted by permission of UWF. For information on the Gulf South Conference, visit www.gulfsouthconference.org. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.

[ HOME ]

Share with your friends on...