2018-19 Great Midwest Men's Tennis All-Conference Team (PDF)


OWENSBORO, Ky. –  Hosted by Kentucky Wesleyan, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis All-Conference Team was announced on Thursday night prior to the start of the postseason tournament.
 
A total of 16 student-athletes were named to either the all-conference first or second team and individual award winners were also revealed.
 
Tiffin accepted the regular-season championship trophy, celebrating a perfect run through the league schedule in its first attempt as a member institution. 
 
The Dragons were 6-0 and claimed rights to the top overall seed in the four-team championship bracket. Tiffin is also regionally ranked at No. 10 in the Midwest Region heading into Friday’s first-round semifinal matchup. 
 
The annual ice cream social gathered all four participating teams from each gender in one room as 2018-19 accomplishments were recognized. Coaches from each program also presented a few words about their respective teams and seasons to date. 
 
The all-conference team was voted by the league’s coaches. 
 
Earning Great Midwest Player of the Yearhonors was Findlay graduate student Tomas Kmetko. Joining the Oilers as a semester transfer from Tusculum University, he made an immediate splash in the spring and was the conference athlete of the week two times.
 
He played an important role in helping Findlay secure the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. On the record, he was unbeaten against the league No. 1’s and there are some good ones from the Great Midwest. 
 
Kmetko stands at 6-2 from Bratislava, Slovakia and also dominated doubles throughout the year with teammate Jorge Barnuevo, another all-conference pick by the coaches. 
 
The Great Midwest Freshman of the Year was Walsh’s Jakob Riglewski, a talented rookie import from Munich, Germany. 
 
Riglewski was the undisputed No. 1 all season for the Cavaliers in head coach Bryan Whittaker’s rotation. He was 5-1 in conference play, the lone loss to player of the year Kmetko, and was 14-8 overall taking on opposing teams top players.
 
Riglewski had a handful of doubles combo partners and found the most success with Tim Bruin. 
 
Six Tiffin Dragons were named to this year’s all-conference under the guidance of Great Midwest Coach of the Year Phil Conley, who also navigated the women to the conference tourney. 
 
Conley’s group of Santiago de la Rosa, Toby Cutting, Nikita Parfenov, Sorin Navrotchi, Tom Arias and Hugo Chatras, had a combination of five conference athletes of the week awards throughout 2018-19 and de la Rosa was on the verge of defeating league player of the year but the duel was marked unfinished with the outcome decided. 
 
Conley has been the head coach at Tiffin for a decade of service.