February 11, 2005

Senior Dante Cipulli will receive the Missouri Sports Achievement Award on Sunday at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Ceremonies.

[Cipulli Profile (pdf)]

BOLIVAR, MO. ... Senior Dante Cipulli will add another major award to his list as the state of Missouri will award him with the Missouri Sports Achievement award on Sunday, February 13, at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Ceremonies. Cipulli currently is the #1 singles player in the nation for NCAA Division II.

Cipulli has put together an 83-8 career record for singles and is 74-9 in doubles competition. His biggest achievement came this past fall when he became the first SBU tennis player to win both the ITA NCAA Division II Singles National Championship and the Small Collge Super Bowl Singles Championship. By winning the Super Bowl Championship, he received an automatic bid to the ITA NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Championship where he posted a 2-2 record.

At the ITA NCAA Division II Doubles Championships, he had a 2-1 record as he teamed with Johan Nortje to finish third in the nation.

Last year, he helped to guide SBU to their second straight MIAA Championship, North Central Regional Championship, and Elite Eight appearance. He was named the MIAA MVP and unanimously voted onto the all-MIAA First-Teams for #1 singles and #2 doubles.

This is the second time in three years that SBU will receive the Missouri Sports Achievement award as Andras Bori and Mark Eori were given the award in 2003 for their NCAA Division II National Doubles Championship.

SBU’s starts their season today when the travel to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to take on Christian Brothers.