SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Portland's Sema Pankin was named the West Coast Conference Men's Tennis Freshman of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday. Pankin anchored the top of the Pilots' lineup throughout the spring and was rewarded by becoming the first player in program history to earn the honor.
Pankin also picked up an All-WCC Second Team award in singles and partnered with fellow freshman Eleftherios Neos for honorable mention All-WCC doubles recognition.
All individual awards - along with the All-West Coast Conference Teams - were voted on by the league's 10 head coaches.
"All of our young players came a long way this season, but particularly Sema," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "I remember sitting on the airplane with him going over video from an earlier tournament in September and being pretty harsh with him. My thought was he would correct these things and get better quickly, or he would take it personally and have a hard time. Either way, we would kind of figure out his character. Obviously, that played out well. His work ethic and toughness have been an inspiration. I think there is going to be big things ahead for him."
Pankin posted an 18-13 overall singles record this year, including a 10-8 dual singles mark at the No. 1 position. Notable singles wins came against then-No. 108 ranked Lukas Moenter of Loyola Marymount in three sets. He then posted a straight sets win against Pepperdine's Adrian Oeztbach to earn WCC Singles Player of the Week honors on April 9.
Pankin and Neos also took on the challenge of being the primary No. 1 doubles duo for the Pilots. The pair finished 5-1 against WCC opponents in dual matches at the top of the lineup, including a 6-4 win against nationally-ranked LMU doubles team and were tied against ranked BYU at 4-4 in unfinished match. The tandem also posted wins over top doubles teams from San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Pepperdine and Gonzaga.
San Diego took home the other major awards with Gui Osorio being named the WCC Player of the Year honors and Ryan Keckley tabbed the coach of the year.
2019 WCC Men's Tennis Postseason Award Winners
Player of the Year: Gui Osorio, San Diego
Freshman of the Year: Sema Pankin, Portland
Coach of the Year: Ryan Keckley, San Diego
All-WCC First Team Singles
Sam Feit, Gonzaga
Andrew Gu, Santa Clara
Sean Hill, BYU
August Holmgren, San Diego
Lukas Moenter, LMU
Gui Osorio, San Diego
All-WCC Second Team Singles
Jeffrey Hsu, BYU
Ryan Marker, San Francisco
Sema Pankin, Portland
Enrique Luque Rico, Pepperdine
Matias Sborowitz, Pepperdine
Corrado Summaria, Pepperdine
Singles Honorable Mention: Jesus Barajas, Santa Clara; Tadiwa Chinamo, Pacific; Joel Gamerov, San Diego; Philip Hjorth, Pacific; David Norfeldt, San Diego; Ruadhan O'Sullivan, Gonzaga; Vincent Rettke, Gonzaga; Nitzan Ricklis, San Francisco; Rob Seby, Santa Clara; Ross Watson, Pacific; James Watt, Saint Mary's; Tim Zeitvogel, Pepperdine
All-WCC First Team Doubles
Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu, BYU
Nico Borter and Gui Osorio, San Diego
Joel Gamerov and August Holmgren, San Diego
All-WCC Second Team Doubles
Sam Tullis and Ben Gajardo, BYU
Nick Borchenko and Diego Nava, LMU
Tadiwa Chinamo and Akram El Sallaly, Pacific
Doubles Honorable Mention: Sam Feit and Ruadhan O'Sullivan, Gonzaga;
Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos, Portland; Guus Koevermans and David Norfeldt, San Diego; Rob Seby and Andrew Gu, Santa Clara
