Saturday, 05/21/2011

McMorrow, Nedunchezhiyan Named All-Pac-10

Washington has had at least one All-Pac-10 player for the past fourteen years.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Husky sophomore Kyle McMorrow was voted to the prestigious All-Pac-10 First Team today for the first time in his career, while senior Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan made the Second Team, his third straight season among the conference’s top-twelve players.

 

The All-Pac-10 Team is comprised of a six-player First Team and a six-player Second Team. The Pac-10 head coaches do the voting for the top twelve spots in order. Any players receiving a vote but not among the top twelve receive honorable mention status.

 

McMorrow, the 2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, moves from an honorable mention last year up to the six-person First Team. He is the seventh Husky all-time to earn First Team status and first since Nedunchezhiyan in 2009.

 

The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native has posted a 32-8 singles record this season, the 32 wins the third-most in one season in UW history. He has eight wins over ranked opponents this season and had separate 12-match and seven-match win streaks, playing primarily No. 2 singles for the Dawgs.

 

McMorrow won both his No. 2 singles matches in NCAA team play, as UW defeated Cal Poly in the first round last week before losing at Stanford, 4-1. His season will continue in the NCAA Singles Championships, beginning May 25. This will be the first NCAA tourney appearance for McMorrow, and he and Nedunchezhiyan will also team together in the NCAA Doubles Championships. McMorrow has ranked as high as No. 42 this season.

 

Nedunchezhiyan earns Second Team honors for the second year in a row. He was a First Team selection as a sophomore in 2009 and an honorable mention in 2008. The senior from Chennai, India broke the career doubles wins record this season and now has 86 career doubles wins to go with 83 singles wins which ties for eighth-most in school history. With a combined 169 singles and doubles wins, Nedunchezhiyan ranks fourth all-time.

 

He posted a 22-13 singles record this year and is an alternate for the NCAA Singles Championship. Nedunchezhiyan was ranked as high as 58th during the regular season. He started all but three matches at No. 1 singles for UW, going 14-8 in the top spot.

 

McMorrow and Nedunchezhiyan have gone 27-13 in doubles this year, including a 16-8 record at No. 1 doubles in dual matches. They ranked as high as No. 22 nationally. Their best win was an 8-6 upset of then-No. 1-ranked Krajicek and Dadamo of Texas A&M on Feb. 19. The two are the first Husky duo in the NCAA doubles draw since 2005, when Alex Slovic and Daniel Chu advanced to the round of 16.

 

 

2011 Men’s Tennis All-Pac-10 Team

 

First Team

Steve Johnson, USC

Bradley Klahn, STAN

Daniel Kosakowski, UCLA

Kyle McMorrow, WASH

Jaak Poldma, USC

Pedro Zerbini, CAL

 

Second Team

Alex Clayton, STAN

Carlos Cueto, CAL

Amit Inbar, UCLA

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, WASH

Ray Sarmiento, USC

Ryan Thacher, STAN

 

Honorable Mention

Andres Carrasco, ARIZ

Emilio Gomez, USC

Daniel Nguyen, USC

Clay Thompson, UCLA

 

Player of the Year: Steve Johnson, USC

Freshman/Newcomer of the Year: Daniel Kosakowski, UCLA

Doubles Team of the Year: Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thatcher, STAN

Coach of the Year: Peter Smith, USC