Men's Tennis

April 26, 2012

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday, April 26 that sophomore Aaron Pfister has been named to the First Team All-Big Ten Team. Pfister finished the regular season with a 14-6 singles record and an 8-13 doubles record.

The sophomore from Grand Blanc, Mich., led the team in wins on court one in both singles and doubles play, where he spent most of his time. Pfister compiled a 12-6 record on court one in singles play while also picking up a win on court two and three. He finished Big Ten play with a 6-5 record on court one. All of his doubles matches came on court one where he paired with three different partners. At the end of the season Pfister, along with his partner, Drew Lied, was ranked No. 84 in the nation.

Earlier this season, Pfister also picked up an individual Big Ten accolade after being crowned the conference's indoor champion in Iowa City back in November 2011. The sophomore went undefeated, posting a perfect 6-0 singles record on his way to winning the title. The following week Pfister was named Big Ten Player of the Week. This is Pfister's first All-Big Ten selection and the first for any Spartan since Nick Rinks in 2007.

Along with Pfister being named to the First Team All-Big Ten team, junior Denis Bogatov was named the team's Sportsmanship Honoree. Bogatov went 11-12 this year in singles play on courts one through three and 11-8 in doubles while playing on courts one and three. The Big Ten chooses one player from each of the 12 Big Ten teams who has exemplified good sportsmanship throughout the season.

The Spartans continue action tomorrow in the Big Ten tournament as they take on No. 2 seed Michigan. The match is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center.

Below is a list of the 2011-12 Men's Tennis All-Big Ten Teams:

First Team All-Big Ten Roy Kalmanovich, Illinois
DENNIS NEVOLO, Illinois
Isade Juneau, Indiana
Josh MacTaggart, Indiana
EVAN KING, Michigan
Aaron Pfister, Michigan State
ROK BONIN, Minnesota
Leandro Toledo, Minnesota
Christopher Aumueller, Nebraska
CHASE BUCHANAN, Ohio State
Peter Kobelt, Ohio State
BLAZ ROLA, Ohio State

Second Team All-Big Ten Alex Petrone, Michigan
Benedikt Lindheim, Nebraska
Josh Graves, Northwestern
Devin McCarthy, Ohio State
Ille Van Engelen, Ohio State
Mark Kovacs, Purdue

Unanimous selections in CAPS

Individual Awards Athlete of the Year: Evan King, Michigan
Freshman of the year: Leandro Toledo, Minnesota
Coach of the year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

Sportsmanship Award Honorees Bruno Abdelnoor, Illinois
Stephen Vogl, Indiana
Garret Dunn, Iowa
Shaun Bernstein, Michigan
Denis Bogatov, Michigan State
Phillip Arndt, Minnesota
Christopher Aumueller, Nebraska
Sidarth Balaji, Northwestern
Steven Williams, Ohio State
Christopher Hasyn, Penn State
Mark Kovacs, Purdue
Petr Satral, Wisconsin

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