LEBANON, Ill. – With the fall tennis campaign completed, the ITA recently released its NCAA Division II Men's Collegiate Tennis National and Regional rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point.
In the national Division II singles rankings, McKendree University senior
Leonardo Frederico (Tijucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/Unicesumar) is ranked 39th nationally. He is one of four players from the Great Lakes Valley Conference ranked nationally in the first rankings of the 2022-23 season.
Along with Frederico, the other GLVC men's players nationally ranked are Maryville's Mario Aleksic at No. 16, UIndy's Tom Zeuch is at No. 28 abd Drury's Sylvain Garin-Michaud at No. 38.
"Captain (Leo) Frederico's unstoppable work ethic is what puts him among the top players in the country," McKendree head tennis coach
René Vidal said. "The best is ahead for Leo and no one deserves it more."
In addition to ITA Division II National Rankings, the ITA also released its Top 20 regional rankings in both singles and doubles. In the Midwest Region, three Bearcats are ranked regionally as Frederico is ranked sixth, while freshman
Benedek Szombathelyi (Budapest, Hunrary/Hunfalvy Janos Bilingual Vocational School) is ranked 13th and freshman
Tomas Leston (Buenos Aires, Argentina/San Jose Hermanas Nuestra Senora del Rosario) is ranked 20th.
"I am happy with my singles ranking. This is the result of all the hard work that I have put in with Coach Vidal and my teammates," said Frederico, who was the GLVC Men's Tennis Player of the Year a season ago. "I'm still not satisfied with No. 39; I want to get to the top of the rankings and I can't wait for the upcoming spring season. My teammates and I are hungry for the competition."
At the ITA Midwest Regional Championships during the fall season, Frederico, who was seeded No. 2 singles, advanced to the quarterfinals following a win over then 10th-ranked Marlon Wilken from Drury. He lost in the quarterfinals to Drury's Garin-Michaud. Meanwhile, Szombathelyi lost in the round of 16 of Flight 'A' Singles to Tiffin's Michael Gurtner, who is ranked eighth in the Midwest Region singles rankings and Leston partnered with senior
Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior) to win the Flight 'C' Doubles Championship and went 1-1 in Flight 'A' singles.
Frederico and the rest of his Bearcat teammates are scheduled to open its 2023 spring schedule on Friday, Feb. 3 as they host the University of Saint Mary (Kan.) for a 9 p.m. match at the St. Clair Tennis Club in O'Fallon, Ill.
