NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced Wednesday that University of South Alabama senior Lucas Viel (Boussy-Saint-Antoine, France) and junior Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) have been named to the 2011 all-conference men’s tennis team.

The Frenchmen were selected for both the singles and the doubles all-conference teams.

“Romain and Lucas are definitely two of the best players in the conference,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “They deserve this honorable mention. They work very hard and are great assets to this team. I am grateful to have them and I want to congratulate the both of them.”

Viel, the No. 20 player in the Southern region, missed nine matches this season due to an injury. He returned to action April 3 against Troy and since then, is undefeated in doubles action. Viel has recorded a 9-3 mark overall and he went 3-1 in the spring season. Viel is also undefeated on the No. 1 court in dual matches.

The No. 17 player in the Southern region, Bocaert took the reins at No. 1 singles in Viel’s absence. He posted a 12-9 record overall and went 7-7 in dual matches.

Bocaert downed two Sun Belt Conference opponents in his spring campaign. He defeated Troy’s Branko Weber 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and beat Yanick Mandl of Louisiana at Lafayette in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.

Bocaert is one of two players on this year’s squad to receive an SBC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week nod.

Viel and Bocaert combine to form the No. 44 doubles tandem in the country and the No. 4 duo in the Southern region. The pair went undefeated in dual matches and holds an 8-2 overall record.

South Alabama also had five student athletes receive academic honors.

Senior Jairo Seur (Amsterdam, Netherlands), junior Chané Hines (Johannesburg, South Africa) and sophomore Jess Courtnell (Newcastle, England) made the SBC Academic Honor Roll with a GPA of 3.0-3.49 while junior Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) and senior Katie Welch were named to the Commissioner’s List with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251)461-1USA(1872).
-USA-

Men's Singles All-Sun Belt Conference
Enej Bonin, Denver
Yannick Weihs, Denver
Marc Abdelnour, Florida Atlantic
Ben Davis, Middle Tennessee
Romain Bocaert, South Alabama
Lucas Viel, South Alabama
 
Men's Doubles All-Sun Belt Conference
Andrew Landwerlen/Jens Vorkefeld, Denver
Marc Abdelnour/Ervin Garibovic, Florida Atlantic
Lucas Viel/Romain Bocaert, South Alabama