June 2, 2005

Cipulli finished off his elite career by being named an ITA all-American for the second year in a row. In Florida, he was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year and was the #1 player in the nation.

Johan Nortje picked up his first all-American award as he finished the year ranked #8 in the nation for doubles.

SKILLMAN, NJ. ... Finishing off another successful year, the Southwest Baptist University men’s tennis team added two more awards for 2005. Seniors Dante Cipulli (Tucuman, Argentina) and Johan Nortje (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) were named ITA All-Americans. This is the second year in a row that Cipulli has been named an all-American.

Cipulli, the #1 singles player in the nation, was all-American for both singles and doubles play. In singles competition, he never lost a match against a NCAA Division II opponent this year. While at the national tournament in Florida, he was given the NCAA Division II Senior Player of the Year as the best tennis player in all of Division II. Winning 110 career matches with 49 coming this year, he was the ITA NCAA Division II Singles National Champion and the Small College Super Bowl Champion this past fall. The past two years he has been named the MIAA MVP, voted all-MIAA First-Team for singles and doubles, and won the MIAA Player of the Week six times.

Nortje was named an all-American for his doubles play with partner Dante Cipulli. They finished the year ranked #8 in the nation with a 31-9 record while winning the last 13 of 14 matches played. At the Sweet 16, SBU’s only point against North Florida came from the doubles of Cipulli and Nortje as they held off #9 German Escallon and Leonardo Gomes, 8-6. Nortje was selected unanimously as an all-MIAA First-Team player for both singles and doubles. In the week of April 26, he was named the MIAA Player of the Week.

Southwest Baptist finished the year with a 17-12 record and a #26 national ranking. They finished in the Sweet 16 and fell to the eventual national runner-up in North Florida. It was the third year in a row that SBU had advanced to the national tournament in Florida. Last year the finished in the Elite Eight and lost to the eventual national champion in West Florida. SBU also won their third straight MIAA Championship and North Central Regional.