AMCC’s Yamanaka Tabbed Southland Men’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year
FRISCO, Texas – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Kyohei Yamanaka is the 2020 Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Thursday with its all-academic teams. Student-Athlete of the Year awards are presented by
GEICO.
The junior from Chiba, Japan, owns a 3.57 GPA in kinesiology and boasted a perfect 12-0 mark in singles play this spring before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Landing on the all-academic first team, it marks the second all-academic selection of his career.
The Islanders tied for the most honorees (3) with Abilene Christian and Lamar, but A&M-Corpus Christi was the lone institution with two first-team picks. Senior Thomas Rodrigues Lopes joined Yamanaka on the top squad. UIW garnered a pair of selections, and New Orleans placed one on the first team.
Yamanaka is one of five repeat honorees, along with Islander teammate William Mottet, Lamar’s Nicolas Mayr, UNO’s Johannes Klein and ACU’s Jonathan Sheehy, a three-time member of the all-academic list.
The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coach, sports information director and an academic/compliance staff member from each institution. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA and have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify for All-Academic selection.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, votes for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
2020 Southland Men's Tennis All-Academic Teams
Student-Athlete of the Year: Kyohei Yamanaka, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
First Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Kyohei Yamanaka^2 |
Jr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Chiba, Japan |
Kinesiology |
3.57 |
| Dennis Boisseau, UIW |
Sr. |
UIW |
Cognac, France |
Business Administration |
3.90 |
| Thomas Rodrigues Lopes |
Sr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Romorantin, France |
Finance |
3.54 |
| Johannes Klein2 |
Jr. |
New Orleans |
Witterschlich, Germany |
Accounting/Finance |
3.93 |
| Jonathan Sheehy3 |
Sr. |
Abilene Christian |
Arlington, Texas |
Financial Management |
3.22 |
| Joshua Taylor |
So. |
Lamar |
Manchester, England |
Psychology |
3.80 |
Second Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Nedim Ahmic |
Sr. |
UIW |
Tuzla, Bosnia |
Computer Info. Systems |
3.78 |
| Joaquin Delgado |
Jr. |
Abilene Christian |
McAllen, Texas |
Kinesiology |
3.83 |
| Nicolas Mayr2 |
Jr. |
Lamar |
Limburgerhof, Germany |
General Business |
3.75 |
| William Mottet2 |
Sr. |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Gargenville, France |
Kinesiology |
3.56 |
| Sebastian Santibanez |
Sr. |
Lamar |
Santiago, Chile |
MBA |
3.85 |
| Riley Tran |
So. |
Abilene Christian |
Colleyville, Texas |
Kinesiology |
3.90 |
^Student-Athlete of the Year
2-Two-Time All-Academic Selection
3-Three-Time All-Academic Selection