UMSL Tennis Players Earn All-Conference Honors

Kardos, Vaulkhard Earn All-Conference; Schaaf Named Freshman of the Year

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL men’s tennis team had three players receive special honors as announced by the conference. Matt Vaulkhard (Victoria, British Columbia), Martin Kardos (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Mike Schaaf (St. Louis, Mo./Francis Howell) were all named to the GLVC All-Conference team, and Schaaf was further honored by being named the GLVC Freshman of the Year.

Matt Vaulkhard earned All-Conference honors for the second time in his career, earning that honor back in the 2001 season when he was also named GLVC Freshman of the Year. Vaulkhard split time between one and two singles this year. He finished with an 11-5 record in singles play, going 5-3 at one singles and 6-2 at two singles. In addition, Vaulkhard was 6-1 in conference competition on the season. He was equally tough in doubles play, finishing with a 13-3 record and went 5-2 in conference doubles matches.

Martin Kardos is a repeat on the GLVC All-Conference team, earning those same honors last season. Kardos also split time between on and two singles on the season. Kardos went 4-4 at one singles and was a perfect 7-0 at the two singles spot for a combined singles record of 11-4. Kardos went 11-3 in doubles matches, including a record of 7-0 at one doubles when he was teamed up with Vaulkhard, and was 5-3 in conference doubles matches.

Mike Schaaf was the third UMSL player to be named All-Conference and was also named the GLVC Freshman of the Year. He is the second UMSL player in the last three years to earn that honor as Matt Vaulkhard was named Freshman of the Year in the 2001 season. Schaaf was 12-3 overall in singles play, with most of his action coming at the number three singles spot where he was 8-3 on the season. He was also a perfect 3-0 at four singles and 1-0 at two singles. Schaaf went 5-1 in conference singles matches and finished at 7-9 on the season in doubles play.

The Rivermen finished the regular season with a 12-5 record heading into this weekend’s GLVC Tournament. Other conference awards announced by the league were Russ Johnson of Indianapolis being named Player of the Year and Geoff Crawford of Northern Kentucky being named Coach of the Year.