Steinberg Voted Big Ten Coach of the Year; Four Wolverines All-Conference
4/27/2021 3:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- University of Michigan men's tennis head coach Adam Steinberg was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year and four Wolverines collected All-Big Ten honors, the conference office announced Tuesday (April 27).
Andrew Fenty and Ondrej Styler earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, while Patrick Maloney and Mattias Siimar claimed second-team honors. This marks the first time since 1980 that Michigan has had four players named All-Big Ten.
This is the first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor for Steinberg, who led Michigan to the Big Ten East Division title with a 9-1 record. The Wolverines are 14-3 overall and ranked in all four national polls. U-M defeated Ohio State for the first time in 21 years and won four matches via shutout for the first time since 1987. Four different players have earned Big Ten weekly honors. Steinberg is an eight-time league Coach of the Year, having earned the honor seven times in the West Coast Conference when he was at Pepperdine.
A unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team for the second straight season, Fenty has been on the first team all three of his Michigan seasons. The 2020 Big Ten Player of the Year and 2019 Rookie of the Year, Fenty is 12-3 in Big Ten singles with a 10-3 record at No. 1 and 2-0 at No. 2. He owns a 15-8 overall singles record. Fenty had a stretch of seven straight wins in singles and was ranked as high as No. 14 in the ITA rankings this season. In doubles, he is 13-3 with Siimar, with an 8-3 record in dual play. With a six-match win streak, the pair reached No. 2 in the rankings this season. An All-American in both singles and doubles, Fenty owns a 59-23 career singles record, including an incredible 43-9 dual mark, and is 59-15 in career doubles.
For the second straight season, Styler earns a place on the league's first team. He owns a 12-6 singles mark this season and is 8-2 in Big Ten play. Styler, who was ranked as high as No. 28 this season, played and won his first match at No. 1 singles against a ranked Kareem Allaf (Illinois), and he has two wins over No. 11-ranked John McNally (Ohio State). Styler is 7-3 at No. 2 singles including a four-match win streak.
An All-American in doubles last season, Siimar makes his second appearance on the All-Big Ten second team. In his senior season, Siimar has a 13-2 singles record in Big Ten dual matches and had an eight-match win streak.
Maloney earns a place on the all-league team for the first time in his career. The Big Ten Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week on April 6, Maloney has a 9-3 record in duals, all against conference opponents, incuding a 2-0 mark at No. 2 and 7-2 at No. 3. In doubles action, Maloney is 7-1 this season for the best doubles win percentage on the team and is a perfect 6-0 in the Big Ten.
In addition to the first- and second-team honors, Nick Beaty earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Michigan is a No. 2 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament and will face Minnesota in the quarterfinal round Friday (April 30) at 2 p.m. CDT in Lincoln, Neb.
2020-21 All-Big Ten Men's Tennis Honors
FIRST TEAM
Zeke Clark, Illinois
Aleks Kovacevic, Illinois*
Siphosothando Montsi, Illinois*
Bennett Crane, Indiana
Kareem Allaf, Iowa
Andrew Fenty, Michigan*
Ondrej Styler, Michigan
Jackson Allen, Minnesota
Stefan Milicevic, Minnesota
Dominik Stary, Northwestern
Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State*
John McNally, Ohio State*
Kyle Seelig, Ohio State
SECOND TEAM
Patrick Maloney, Michigan
Mattias Siimar, Michigan
Steven Forman, Northwestern
JJ Tracy, Ohio State
James Trotter, Ohio State
Christian Lakoseljac, Penn State
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State*
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
JJ Tracy, Ohio State
COACH OF THE YEAR
Adam Steinberg, Michigan
* Unanimous selection
Players Mentioned
