UC Santa Barbara's Konigsfeldt, Pacific's Starke Share Player of the Year Award

Files associated with this release:
2009 Men's Tennis All-Conference Team

UC Santa Barbara's Alex Konigsfeldt is the third Gaucho in the last four years to claim Big West Player of the Year honors.

Pacific's Moritz Starke earned his second Big West Player of the Year honor after winning for the first time in 2007.

Sophomore Alex Konigsfeldt of UC Santa Barbara and senior Moritz Starke of Pacific snatched Big West Men's Tennis Co-Player of the Year honors to highlight the announcement of the men's tennis all-conference team today.  UC Santa Barbara's Marty Davis garnered Coach of the Year recognition and Cal Poly's Andre Dome got the nod as Freshman of the Year.
   
Konigsfeldt, a native of Vedbaek, Denmark, climbed to the top spot on the Gaucho singles ladder when regular No. 1 player Philip Therp, the 2008 Big West Player of the Year, was lost for the season early on due to injury.   Konigsfeldt responded with a 9-8 record at No. 1 and finished 10-12 overall in dual matches.  He came up huge for UCSB in last week's Big West Tournament when he defeated fellow first team all-conference foes Starke and UC Irvine's Steven Henderson to help UCSB to the title.  Konigsfeldt also won all three of his doubles matches with teammate Josh Finkelstein in the conference tournament.
   
This is the second Player of the Year honor for Starke, who won the award in 2007 as a sophomore.  In his final year as a Tiger, Starke finished an identical 13-6 in dual matches at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.  Starke went 5-0 against Big West opponents during the regular season, defeating Dome, Henderson and Konigsfeldt among others.  He clinched the Big West Tournament No. 1 seed and a share of the regular season league title with his defeat of UCI's Henderson, which gave the Tigers a 4-3 victory.  Starke finished his career with nine Big West Athlete of the Week awards, including four this season.
   
Davis received the top coaching honor for the fourth straight year and sixth time overall in his 10th season at UCSB.  Davis led the Gauchos to an 11-12 regular season mark.  Despite earning the No. 4 seed in the Big West Tournament, the Gauchos won the event for the fourth straight season after defeating UC Davis, Pacific and UC Irvine in Indian Wells.  The title qualified UCSB for the NCAA Championships for the sixth time under Davis.
   
Dome is the first Cal Poly player to claim top freshmen honors, and the first Mustang to win a major award since Chris Magyary earned Player of the Year kudos in 1998.  Dome, a native of Arroyo Grande, Calif., finished 5-7 at the No. 1 singles position despite battling injuries throughout the latter half of the season.  He had a win over then-No. 99 Patricio Alvarado of Southern Mississippi and also recorded wins over Big West opponents from UC Riverside and UC Irvine.
   
The following is a complete listing of the 2009 Big West All-Conference Team:

FIRST TEAM - SINGLES