Brentwood, TN – Senior Sean Bailey was voted the league’s top player and Austin Peay State University men’s tennis team was picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, released Friday by the conference office.
Bailey, a three-time All-OVC player, was joined in the league’s Top Ten Player Rankings, as voted by the league’s head coaches, by two teammates – junior Jasmin Ademovic (third) and sophomore Dimitar Ristovski (sixth).
“I think these guys will be pleased with their rankings,” said head coach Ross Brown. “They’ve worked very hard and deserve some recognition. It should bolster their confidence to know that the other coaches have a lot of respect for them.”
As a team, the Govs were picked to finish second in the conference and received two-first place votes. Tennessee Tech, with five first-place votes and 76 points, was picked to repeat as regular-season champion. The Govs were next with 70 points, followed by 2012 tournament champion Eastern Kentucky, which upset Austin Peay at last season’s OVC Tournament, with 66 points and a first-place vote.
“We’re at the top and we’ve got to prove we deserve that,” Brown said. “Tennessee Tech’s been very consistent over the years and Eastern Kentucky has brought in a lot of talent, so they’ll continue to be tough.”
Newcomer Belmont was picked fourth (62 points) and Jacksonville State (48 points) rounded out the top five.
Austin Peay returns to action 1:00pm, Saturday, when it hosts Southern Illinois at the APSU Tennis Center.
2013 OVC Men’s Tennis Predicted Order of Finish
(as voted on by the league’s head coaches)
- Tennessee Tech (5 first-place votes) – 76
- Austin Peay (2 first-place votes) – 70
- Eastern Kentucky (1 first-place vote) – 66
- Belmont – 62
- Jacksonville State – 48
- Morehead State – 34
- Murray State – 30
- SIUE – 29
- Eastern Illinois – 26
- Tennessee State – 9
2013 OVC Men’s Top Ten Player Rankings
(as voted on by the league’s head coaches)
- Sean Bailey, Sr., Manitoba, Canada – Austin Peay
- Syrym Abdukhalikov, Sr., Almaty, Kazakhstan – Tennessee Tech
- Jasmin Ademovic, Jr., Sarajevo, Bosnia – Austin Peay
- Alejandro Augusto, So., Madrid, Spain – Tennessee Tech
- Marten Jonsson, So., Pitea, Sweden – SIUE
- Dimitar Ristovski, So., Skopje, Macedonia – Austin Peay
- Igor Santos, Sr., Campo Grande, Brazil – Jacksonville State
- Vasily Eremeev, Jr., Krasnoyarsk, Russia – Tennessee Tech
- Nenad Marcec, Sr., Belgrade, Serbia – Jacksonville State
- Axel Sundberg, Sr., Oslo, Norway – Jacksonville State
