Three USF men's tennis players were recognized for their outstanding achievements on the season by the West Coast Conference, which released its conference awards on Tuesday.

"I am honored that the coaches voted for our guys because by the coaches voting for our players, then that means our guys earned their respect," said head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida.  "All year the guys work towards proving that they are the best in the conference. This proves they put the work in!"

For the second consecutive season, Bernardo Saraiva earned first team All-WCC honors in singles play. The senior becomes the first USF player to twice earn first team all-conference accolades in this current voting format, which was adopted in the late 1990's.  
 
In his entire dual match singles career, Saraiva has accumulated an astonishing 58-25 record.  In his final year for the Dons, his 21-5 overall record includes wins from six nationally ranked opponents. Fifteen of his 16 dual match victories were completed in just two sets. At No. 1 singles, Saraiva has also picked up a 4-1 WCC record defeating opponents from Brigham Young, Santa Clara, the Pacific and Loyola Marymount.
 
Saraiva also received All-WCC First Team Doubles honors with his partner, Nils Skajaa. The pair was just one of three doubles teams recognized.  The Saraiva-Skajaa team is the first doubles tandem from USF to receive first team all-conference recognition since Axel Elvek and Mason Fuller in 2004.
 
The duo has been consecutively placed in All-WCC honors for the past three years. Saraiva and Skajaa have racked up and overall 19-9 record, including a 3-3 mark in WCC play at the No. 1 position.
 
Skajaa and Thomas Takemoto earned honorable mention recognition in singles play. Skajaa has compiled a 9-8 dual match record, including a sparkling 5-1 record against WCC foes, while Takemoto has won all four of his conference matches to improve to 10-6 overall on the season.
 
"When we set some of the goals  related to the WCC at the beginning of the season these are the awards that we bring up to the players and in a sense what we shoot for within the conference," said Director of Tennis Peter Bartlett. "This is a nice validation for the athletes going into the conference tournament and well deserved."

The Dons head to the WCC Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego as the tournament's No. 3 seed. They are scheduled to face No. 6 seed Loyola Marymount in a quarterfinal match on Thursday. First serve is set for 3:00 p.m.
 

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2015 WCC  Men's Tennis Postseason Award Winners
Player of the Year:  Uros Petronijevic, San Diego
Freshmen of the Year:  Errol Smith, LMU
Coach of the Year: Brett Massi, San Diego
 
All-WCC First Team Singles
Alvaro Nazal, Gonzaga
Miguel Diaz, Pacific
Steffen Dierauf, Portland
Uros Petronijevic, San Diego
Filip Vittek, San Diego
Bernardo Saraiva, San Francisco
 
All-WCC Second Team Singles
Francis Sargent, BYU              
Charles Boyce III, LMU
Guilherme Hadlich, Pepperdine
Jordan Angus, San Diego
Ashot Khacharyan, Santa Clara
Ilya Osintsev, Santa Clara
 
Singles Honorable Mention:
Nick Kamisar, Gonzaga; Errol Smith, LMU; Jose Chamba, Pacific; Pedro Iamachkine, Pepperdine; Luca Marquard, Pepperdine; Reid deLaubenfels, Portland; Michail Pervolarakis, Portland; Arthur Weber, Saint Mary's;  Roamin Kalaydjian, San Diego; Nils Skajaa, San Francisco; Thomas Takemoto, San Francisco
 
All-WCC First-Team Doubles
Guilherme Hadlich and Rakshay Thakkar, Pepperdine 
Filip Vittek and Jordan Angus, San Diego
Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa, San Francisco
 
All-WCC Second-Team Doubles
Steffen Dierauf and Reid deLaubenfels, Portland
Sam Bertram and Ilya Osintsev, Santa Clara
Mikheil Khmiadashvili and Ashot Khacharyan, Santa Clara
 
Doubles Honorable Mention: Alvaro Nazal and Nick Kamisar, Gonzaga; Charles Boyce III and Cristobal Rivera, LMU; Miguel Diaz and Jose Chamba, Pacific; Marlon Brand and Daniel Alameh, Pacific