IRVINE, Calif.—University of Hawai'i men's tennis player, Andre Ilagan, became the first Rainbow Warrior to earn Big West Freshman of the Year honors, while Lucas Labrunie, Blaz Seric, and Simao Telo Alves all garnered all-Big West honors for the 2019 season.
 
Ilagan, a two-time HHSAA state champion from Farrington High School in Honolulu, also was voted to the all-Big West first team after recording a team-high 12-7 dual match singles record, including a 10-7 record at the No. 1 spot. It's the most singles wins by UH's No. 1 player since Dennis Lajola compiled a 12-8 record at No. 1 in 2010.  Ilagan finished with a 4-3 record against Big West opponents, including a win against fellow first team all-conference honoree Sasha Krasnov of UC Irvine. He also earned three more wins against second team all-conference selections Kyle McCann of UC Riverside and David Goulak of UC Davis. Ilagan began the spring with a win over Louisville's Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff, who finished the season ranked No. 117 in the ITA poll. Ilagan started red-hot right out of the gate as he won five of his first six matches as a Rainbow Warrior.
 
Ilagan is the fourth Rainbow Warrior to garner conference Freshman of the Year honors. From 2006-08 the 'Bows had a lock on that award in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with Sascha Heinemann (2006), Andreas Weber (2007) and Dennis Lajola (2008) all receiving the accolade. Ilagan is the first to earn the award in the Big West Conference.
 
Sophomore Lucas Labrunie earned a spot on the all-Big West Singles Second Team after tallying a 10-9 dual match record. He was 7-8 on the No. 2 court and 3-1 at No. 3. Overall he also notched double-digits in singles wins with an 11-10 overall record. He won five of his last eight singles matches to help lead UH to a 7-13 overall record--the most wins for UH since the 2014 team went 8-12.
 
In doubles, Ilagan and Labrunie combined to earn second team all-Big West honors after posting a 6-6 dual match record together. They were 5-5 when competing on the No. 1 court and 1-1 at No. 2. The formidable duo played the entire season as doubles partners.
 
UH's No. 2 doubles team of Blaz Seric and Simao Telo Alves also earned second-team All-Big West honors after they combined to record a 6-5 record together, all on the No. 2 court. Between March 8 and April 7, UH's No. 2 team won four of their five matches.
 
For Seric, this is the second time he's earned all-Big West honors. Last year as a freshman, he was named to the all-Big West second team in singles. For Ilagan, Labrunie, and Alves it marked their first time earning all-conference honors.

2019 All-Big West Honorees

FIRST TEAM - SINGLES
Joseph Guillin - UC Santa Barbara, Jr., Paris, France
Andre Ilagan - Hawai'i, Fr., Honolulu, HI
Sasha Krasnov - UC Irvine, Sr., Odessa, Ukraine
Victor Krustev - UC Santa Barbara, So., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran -UC Santa Barbara, Sr., New York, NY
Antoine Noel - Cal Poly, Jr., Courcouronnes, France
Josh Ortlip - Cal Poly, Sr., Irvine, CA

SECOND TEAM - SINGLES
David Goulak - UC Davis, Jr., Oak Park, CA
Lucas Labrunie - Hawai'i, So., Paris, France
Hironori Koyanagi - UC Santa Barbara, Sr., Tokyo, Japan
Luis Lopez - UC Irvine, Sr., Chula Vista, CA
Kyle McCann - UC Riverside, Sr., San Jose, CA
Ivan Thamma - UC Davis, So., San Diego, CA

HONORABLE MENTION - SINGLES
Gilbert Chung - UC Riverside, Jr., Los Angeles, CA
Nil Giraldez - UC Davis, Fr., Barcelona, Spain
Mateusz Smolicki - UC Irvine, So., Warsaw, Poland
Alex Stater - Cal Poly, So., Bethesda, MD

FIRST TEAM - DOUBLES
Josh Ortlip/Dominic Bechard - Cal Poly Sr./Sr., Irvine, CA/Perth, Australia
David Goulak/Ivan Thamma - UC Davis, Jr./So., Oak Park, CA/San Diego, CA
Joseph Guillin/Victor Krustev - UC Santa Barbara, Jr./So., Paris, France/Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran/Anders Holm - UC Santa Barbara, Sr./Sr., New York, NY/Aarhus, Denmark

SECOND TEAM - DOUBLES
Gary Vardanyan/Antoine Noel - Cal Poly, Fr./Jr., Granada Hills, CA/Courcouronnes, France
Bruce Man-Son-Hing/Luis Lopez - UC Irvine, Jr./Sr., Calabasas, CA/Chula Vista, CA
Blaz Seric/Simao Telo Alves - Hawai'i, So./Fr., Remshalden, Germany/Lisboa, Portugal
Andre Ilagan/Lucas Labrunie - Hawai'i, Fr./So., Honolulu, HI/Paris, France

HONORABLE MENTION - DOUBLES
Sasha Krasnov/Mason Hansen - UC Irvine, Sr./Sr., Odessa, Ukraine/San Luis Obispo, CA
Vatsal Bajpai/Mateusz Smolicki - UC Irvine, Sr./So., Long Beach, CA/Warsaw, Poland
Kyle McCann/Andreas Whelan-Merediz - UC Riverside, Sr./Fr., San Jose, CA/London, England