April 23, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Junior Xavier Riart-Ferrer and senior Daniel Tobar were named to the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First-Team, as announced by the conference office Wednesday. Tobar received his third-career honor and Riart-Ferrer his first.
"Being named to the Scholar-Athlete First-Team is a great honor, I'm proud of both them," said head coach Cris James. "Our program emphasizes success in all areas related to being a student-athlete. It is good to have athletes who can achieve great things both on and off the court. Daniel and Xavier should be proud of themselves."
Tobar has a 3.46 cumulative grade point average (GPA) in international business and is a five-time member of the AFNI Athletics Honor Roll. Tobar moved into fourth place all-time at ISU with 70 doubles wins. He finished the 2008-09 season with a 12-20 singles record and a 16-15 mark in doubles. Prior to the spring season, Tobar and doubles partner Skip Span acquired the No. 56 ITA national doubles ranking.
Riart-Ferrer has a cumulative 3.71 GPA in chemistry and is also a three-time member of the AFNI Athletics Honor Role. He closed out the season with an overall 8-7 singles record and went 5-7 in doubles primarily at the No. 3 position, as he only dropped one singles match in Valley competition. In June 2008, he was awarded the Benoni Green Scholarship for his hard work and commitment to excellence on-and-off the tennis court.
To be eligible for Scholar-Athlete selection, a student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0, is a sophomore in athletic and academic standing, and have participated in 75 percent of the regular season or projected participation in the 2009 State Farm MVC Championship. The student-athletes were nominated and voted on by the Valley's tennis sports information directors.
Other Valley first-team selections, Bradley's Michel Macara-chvili and Evgeny Samoylov, Creighton's Jose Guerra, Maor Zirkin of Drake, Southern Illinois' Anton Leonenko and Hugo Vidal, and Adrian Chermaci and Jonathan Obrist of Wichita State.
Riart-Ferrer and Tobar will join the Redbirds Friday at the 2009 State Farm MVC Tennis Championship, as Illinois State will face Bradley in the first round of competition at 10 a.m.
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