Bowling Green, KY - On Wednesday afternoon, the Mid-South Conference announced their men's tennis All-Conference teams, and two Bears were honored after their stellar seasons. Juan Diego Alzate was selected to the First Team and Valentin Ortiz was selected to the Second Team. Alzate is the first Bear to be named to the First Team since Jan Kappes and Enzo Douillac in 2016.
For Alzate, this is the second season in a row being named to the All-Conference team, as the sophomore earned Second Team honors last season. Overall, Alzate had a regular season record of 14-2 in singles play, tabbing a 9-1 record against conference opponents and a doubles record of 10-6.
Alzate picked up two doubles and three singles wins against ranked opponents this season. In those wins, the Ibague, Colombia native defeated No. 20 Cumberland University and No. 9 Lindsey-Wilson College. Pairing with Mirko Dedich, the two picked up wins against Jackson Vaughan and Hugues N'Goma of the Phoenix, and against Nicolas Torrealba and Anatoliy Voloshyn of the Blue Raiders.
In singles play, Alzate picked up wins against the Phoenix's N'Goma and Steven Espinosa of the Blue Raiders. In his first singles match of the season Alzate defeated No. 19 Point University's Guido Luna. He was also named MSC Player of the Week on February 28th.
Ortiz is in his first season with the Bears, after spending his freshman year with Tennessee Wesleyan University. He tabbed a doubles record of 9-7, and a singles record of 9-6 with a 5-4 record against in-conference opponents.
Ortiz picked up one ranked win, as it came in a doubles match where he partnered with Martin Lorenzo and defeated Daniel Wessels and German Suarez of No. 20 Cumberland University.
Ortiz had two sweeps in doubles matches this season. Paired with Juan Diego Medina, the Buenos Aires, Argentina native swept Brayden Martin and Hunter Pounds of Freed-Hardeman University, and Aiden White and Harley Dixon of Shawnee State University. He was also named MSC Player of the Week on April 4th.
The Bears are back in action this Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. CT against Campbellsville University in the quarterfinal round of the MSC Tournament in Bowling Green, KY.
