FMU tennis players earn All-PBC awards

FLORENCE, SC – Five Francis Marion University tennis players were named to the Peach Belt Conference 2009 All-Conference Teams. The announcements were made at the recent PBC Championship Tournaments in Morrow, Ga.

Sophomores Oshada Wijemanne and Dilshod Sharifi were named first-team All-PBC as a men’s doubles duo, while Wijemanne was named a first-team singles selection and Sharifi was tabbed for the second-team singles squad.

Junior Tereza Sykorova was named a first-team All-PBC women’s singles player for the second straight year, while sophomores Kristyna Horakova and Jitka Gavdunova were a first-team doubles selection.

Wijemanne, a native of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has compiled a 14-2 singles mark at the No. 1 position and is ranked 10 nationally. Sharifi, a native of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, is 17-2 in singles play, mainly at the No. 2 spot, and is ranked 22nd among NCAA Division II singles players. Wijemanne was 6-1 in the tough PBC. The two have also combined for a 14-3 doubles record at the No. 1 position and are ranked sixth in the latest national rankings.

Sykorova, a native of Prague, Czech Republic, is 16-5 in singles play at the No. 1 position and is ranked 18th nationally.

Horakova, a native of Roznov Pod Radhostem, Czech Republic, and Gavdunova, a native of Vejprty, Czech Republic, combined to post an 18-1 record, including a 10-0 mark in PBC play. They are ranked 17th nationally, despite wins over two Top-5 opponents, and their lone loss was to the second-ranked doubles squad.

The eighth-ranked Francis Marion women are 18-4, while the 17th-ranked Patriot men are 15-5. Both are awaiting next week’s announcement of the NCAA Division II National Tournament field.