Elon’s Sarrasague Repeats as CAA Men’s Tennis Player of the Year, Leonard Named Coach of the Year

RICHMOND, Va. – Elon University men’s tennis senior Felipe Sarrasague has been selected as the Colonial Athletic Association’s Men’s Tennis Player of the Year for the second straight year and head coach Michael Leonard was named the CAA Coach of the Year for the second time in his career as the league handed out its men’s tennis postseason awards on Thursday, May 2.

Sarrasague also earned First Team All-CAA Singles accolades for the fourth season in a row and is one of five Phoenix to earn 2019 All-CAA honors. He’s joined on the team by fellow senior Mario Paccini to help Elon tie UNCW for the most on the league’s top squad. Additionally, Kyle Frankel and Felipe Osses-Konig earned Second Team All-CAA singles honors. In doubles, Paccini and Sarrasague paired to earn First Team All-CAA honors, while duo of Frankel and Camilo Ponce earned Second Team All-CAA accolades.

Sarrasague becomes just the eighth player in conference history to earn CAA Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons. He is also the first Elon player to earn back-to-back player of the year honors since Cameron Silverman ’14 was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014. Sarrasague is the fourth player in Elon’s Division I era – all of which have come in the last seven seasons – to earn conference Player of the Year. In addition to Silverman’s back-to-back honors, Stefan Fortmann took the CAA Player of the Year honor in Elon’s first year as a member of the conference in 2015.

Leonard earns the second CAA Coach of the Year honor of his career after guiding Elon to its first CAA Championship and a 21-4 record this season. He also earned the league’s honor in 2016 when he guided Elon to a 17-6 record and a No. 2 seed in the CAA Championships. For Leonard, this is his seventh-career conference coach of the year award as he was a five-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year (2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014) before the Phoenix joined the CAA.

Currently ranked No. 104 by the ITA, Sarrasague received a berth in the 2019 NCAA Singles Championship. The senior, who has won a combined 22 matches since the start of the fall season, has a 15-5 singles record in dual matches in the spring, which includes a pair of a victories over ranked foes. Four of his five losses this season were to players who owned a national ranking at some point during the 2018-19 campaign. Sarrasague has also excelled in doubles, posting a 10-2 mark at the No. 1 slot with partner Paccini. This is Sarrasague’s third-career major award from the league as he was also named the 2016 CAA Rookie of the Year. He has won 59 career dual singles matches, which currently ranks tied for 4th in program history with Chase Helpingstine ’11.

Paccini, now a First Team All-CAA Singles honoree for the third time in his career, finished his senior season with 12 singles victories during the spring campaign. During Elon’s championship run, 11 of those wins came at the No. 2 spot with the other came at No. 1 position. Paccini has won a total of 19 singles matches across the fall and spring seasons, which marks the most for the Madrid, Spain, native in a single-season for his career and pushes his career-win total to 69 singles victories.

Osses-Konig and Frankel each earned Second Team All-CAA Singles spots playing primarily at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively. Osses-Konig has posted 27 singles wins combined over the fall and spring campaigns and finished with a 19-5 singles record in dual matches, which was the second-best mark on the squad. Frankel tallied an incredible 29 singles wins since the fall and has a 21-3 record in the spring. His 21 dual match wins this spring is the most in program history for a single season.

In doubles, Sarrasague and Paccini earned First Team All-CAA accolades after posting a 10-2 record at the No. 1 position this spring. The duo have a 9-1 mark in their last 10 matches heading into the NCAA Tournament. Frankel and Ponce earned Second Team All-CAA honors after finishing with a team-best 12-4 record at the No. 2 position. The tandem has won five straight matches entering this year’s NCAA Championships.

2019 CAA Men’s Tennis Awards

First Team
Singles
Benedikt Henning, Charleston
Austin Hussey, UNCW
Mario Paccini, Elon
Sebastian Quiros, William & Mary
Felipe Sarrasague, Elon
Agustin Savarino, UNCW

Doubles
Alvaro Arce, James Madison
Pierre Kohler, James Madison
Michael Copeland, UNCW
Cole Groetsch, UNCW
Mario Paccini, Elon
Felipe Sarrasague, Elon

Second Team
Singles
Alvaro Arce, James Madison
Kyle Frankel, Elon
Daniel Groom, UNCW
Sinan Orhon, Drexel
Felipe Osses-Konig, Elon
Marcus Smith, Hofstra

Doubles
Kyle Frankel, Elon
Camilo Ponce, Elon
Chen Ruo, William & Mary
Brenden Volk, William & Mary
Benedikt Henning, Charleston
Johnny Wang, Charleston

2019 CAA Player of the Year: Felipe Sarrasague, Elon
2019 CAA Co-Rookies of the Year: Bruno Caula, UNCW and Luis Molina, Delaware
2019 CAA Coach of the Year: Michael Leonard, Elon