Men's Tennis Places Three on Southland All-Academic Teams

CORPUS CHRISTI – For the second straight year the Texas A&M - Corpus Christi men's tennis team has placed three Islanders on the Southland Conference All-Academic teams, the league announced today. Sophomore Kevin Bettendroffer was named to the first team, while juniors Javier Pujol and Guillaume Rauseo garnered second-team accolades. 

It is the sixth time in the last seven years that the Islanders men's team has had a player on the all-academic teams. Bettendroffer was named First Team All-Conference and earned an automatic selection, while Pujol and Rauseo each earned their second straight all-academic honor. 

Bettendroffer claims his first career all-academic accolade after putting together a remarkable year for the Islanders at No. 2 singles and earning a 3.29 GPA in University Studies. In addition to his first-team honors in singles, he also secured all-conference second team honors in doubles with Rauseo. The native of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, France collected the conference championship at No. 2 singles after recording a perfect 5-0 record in conference play. He clinched four out of the five matches in straight sets. Bettendroffer finished the season on a team-high 10-match winning streak and tallied a 15-4 record in the No. 2 spot.

Pujol earns his second consecutive all-academic honor after securing a spot on the first team last season. The Barcelona, Spain native collected his third career all-conference honor this season after garnering a spot on the second team. He achieved a 3.58 GPA in Finance and also earned his second career conference championship at No. 5 singles. This season, he collected a 4-1 singles record in the No. 5 spot in Southland play and registered an 11-9 record at No. 5 singles.

Along with Pujol, Rauseo also picks up his second straight all-academic honor after claiming a spot on the first team last season. He achieved a 3.43 GPA in Mechanical Engineering while being named second team all-conference in singles and doubles with Bettendroffer. The native of Morschwiller-Le-Bas, Alsace, France finished with a 2-2 record in conference action, including a 1-1 record in both the No. 3 and No. 4 slots. He also helped the Islanders rally past UTSA in the opening round of the H-E-B Tournament of Champions. With the match on the line, Rauseo rose up and garnered a 7-5 third-set win to clinch the victory. He concluded the season on a three-match winning streak at No. 4 singles and tallied a 10-5 mark in the No. 4 slot.

The trio helped the Islanders clinch their eighth straight Southland regular-season title, third straight Southland Tournament title and third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships. The Islanders also achieved a season-best ranking of No. 40 in the ITA Division I rankings - their highest ranking since 2009.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

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Men's Tennis All-Academic Teams

^Student-Athlete of the Year

*-Automatic Selection

2-Two-Time All-Academic Selection