West Babylon, N.Y. – Co-Players and Rookies of the Year were selected atop the East Coast Conference Men’s Tennis All-Conference awards announced on Friday morning. St. Thomas Aquinas’ Odysseas Papaioannou (Thessaloniki, Greece) and Queens’ Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egpyt) share the Player of the Year honor. The Rookie of the Year voting also ended in a tie with both Ludovico Truffelli (Bologna, Italy) of St. Thomas Aquinas and Philipp Uhde (Heidelberg, Germany) of Queens claiming the honor.
Papaioannou currently boasts a 14-3 record in singles and a 12-6 mark in doubles. He excelled in ECC play, finishing with a perfect 5-0 record in singles with his wins split between the No. 3, 4, and 5 positions. Papaioannou also finished with a 4-2 record in ECC doubles play.
Rashad finished the regular season with a record of 15-10 in singles and 13-6 in doubles. Rashad was unbeatable in ECC play, however, finishing with perfect 4-0 records in both singles, at the No. 1 position, and doubles.
Truffelli and Uhde were the top rookies in the conference all season. The two claimed all 10 ECC Rookie of the Week honors with Truffelli earning six to Uhde’s four.
Truffelli heads into postseason play with records of 15-6 in singles and 18-6 in doubles. He especially excelled in doubles during his debut season, finishing with a 6-0 record at No. 1 in ECC play. Truffelli also teamed with Lennart Lehmann to advance to the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Championship during the fall portion of the Spartans’ schedule.
Uhde also excelled in his first collegiate season, compiling a 14-5 singles record that includes a 5-1 mark in ECC play. While not a frequent contributor on the doubles court with only six total matches on the season, Uhde did finish with a 3-1 mark in ECC matches.
Queens College head coach, Somadi Druker, wraps up the top awards as the league’s Coach of the Year. Druker earns the honor for the second straight season and the sixth time in her career after leading the Knights to a perfect 6-0 conference record to claim an ECC regular season title.
The ECC also announced its Men's Tennis All-Conference honorees. Joining Papaioannou, Rashad, and Truffelli were Mariano Bibilioni and Moritz Borges of Queens and Maximilian Kendler and Lennart Lehmann of St. Thomas Aquinas.
2022 ECC Men’s Tennis All-Conference
Mariano Bibiloni, Queens
Moritz Borges, Queens
Maximilian Kendler, St. Thomas Aquinas
Lennart Lehmann, St. Thomas Aquinas
Odysseas Papaioannou, St. Thomas Aquinas
Kareem Rashad, Queens
Ludovico Truffelli, St. Thomas Aquinas
* Seven players on the All-Conference team due to tie in the voting
Co-Player of the Year: Odysseas Papaioannou, St. Thomas Aquinas
Co-Player of the Year: Kareem Rashad, Queens
Co-Rookie of the Year: Ludovico Truffelli, St. Thomas Aquinas
Co-Rookie of the Year: Philipp Uhde, Queens
Coach of the Year: Somadi Druker, Queens
