NEW YORK -- The BIG EAST announced the 2021 All-Conference Men’s Tennis honors on Thursday along with the regular season awards. DePaul’s Vito Tonejc was voted BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Year. Marquette redshirt freshman Stefan Dragovic was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and the DePaul staff, led by head coach Matt Brothers earned Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
Tonejc is the second Blue Demon in program history to win BIG EAST Player of the Year honors. He joins Filip Dzanko (2014) on the list. Tonejc played No. 1 singles for DePaul, compiling a 13-5 record while facing the oppositions top competition. He was at his best in a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) road victory over Vanderbilt’s nationally ranked George Harwell. He made history on March 10 when he became the first DePaul men’s tennis player to earn Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Player of the Week accolades. The junior from Zagreb, Croatia was also named Freshman of the Year in 2019. With schoolmate Aspasia Avgeri also winning BIG EAST Player of the Year for women’s tennis, it is the second time in DePaul history that both programs swept the top award. Patricia Fargas joined Dzanko in 2014 as Player of the Year as well.
Dragovic, a redshirt freshman went 12-5 overall, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot for Marquette. In doubles action he finished with a 6-4 record. In the BIG EAST Championship, he went 2-0 in his singles matches defeating Charlie James of St. John’s in the semifinals and Villanova’s Eitan Khromchenko in straight sets in the quarters. Dragovic was also voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team.
DePaul coaching staff, led by Brothers with assistant coach Chema Carranza, won that BIG EAST Championship title which had eluded the Blue Demons three times prior – in 2009, 2014 and 2018. Brothers is in his 14th season as the head coach of DePaul. This season, the Blue Demons went 15-6, 3-1 against BIG EAST teams, en route to DePaul’s first NCAA automatic berth. The Blue Demons will play Illinois at 4 p.m. on May 7.
The ballots were cast by the league’s head coaches who could not vote for their own teams. The All-BIG EAST men’s tennis all-conference teams are made up of six at-large selections each. Coaches could not vote for their own players. See below for the full listing.
BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Year
Vito Tonejc, DePaul, Jr.
BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Year
Stefan Dragovic, Marquette, RS-Fr.
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
DePaul
All-BIG EAST First Team
Tom Brennan, Butler, Jr. ^
Stefan Dragovic, Marquette, Jr.
Ignacio Garcia, St. John’s, Sr.
Vito Tonejc, DePaul, Jr. ^
Fran San Andres, Marquette, Jr.
Boris Spanjaard, DePaul, Sr. ^
All-BIG EAST Second Team
Luis Heredia, Marquette, Sr.
Michael Dickson, Butler, RS-Jr.
Srdan Pejic, Xavier, Sr.
Stratton Brown, Creighton, Sr.
Louis-Nils Michel, St. John’s, Sr.
Luuk Wassenaar, DePaul, Jr.
^ denotes unanimous selection