SURPRISE, Ariz. – The 2021 PacWest Men’s Tennis All-Conference team is led by Azusa Pacific’s Jakob Schnaitter, who went undefeated in singles this season without dropping a single set as he led the Cougars to an undefeated record against PacWest teams. Schnaitter joins an exclusive list of Oliver Frank, Jan Meyer and Petr Michnev as the only players in PacWest history to win Player of the Year twice.
 
Sam Sippel is the PacWest Freshman of the Year and Mark Bohren repeated as PacWest Coach of the Year for Azusa Pacific. PacWest Newcomer of the Year went to Tales Silva from Point Loma, who was also named to the third team All-PacWest for singles.
 
Schnaitter has the best UTR ranking of any player in NCAA Division II as a result of his dominant season at No. 1 singles for Azusa Pacific. Schnaitter won seven matches in singles against first-team All-PacWest opponents and only once lost more than four games in a set. He finished the regular season with four wins in a row against first-team All-PacWest opponents and then defeated a three-time All-PacWest selection, 6-1, 6-2 to secure the No. 1 seed for Azusa Pacific at the PacWest Championships. In doubles, he partnered with Leyton Bohren for a 13-3 record, and was voted by the coaches as the top PacWest doubles team. They defeated Concordia’s first-team All-PacWest doubles team of Mike Jansen and Yassine Smiej 6-3 on two occasions.
 
Sippel was ranked second in the PacWest by the coaches after going a perfect 12-0 at No. 2 singles. The red-shirt freshman is now 21-0 in his career at No. 2 singles. Sippel’s biggest win of the year came against Hawai`i Hilo’s Alessio Demichelis, winning 6-3, 6-0 to lead Azusa Pacific to a 4-3 win over the No. 2 team in the conference. In doubles, Sippel partnered with Ryan Nuno to compile a 13-2 record, including two wins at No. 1 doubles, earning a spot on the first-team All-PacWest doubles list.
 
Silva compiled a 4-3 record at No. 2 singles for the Sea Lions, which played against the toughest schedule in the PacWest this year. Silva, who was a cross country standout at USC Aiken, transferred to Point Loma for graduate school and was a key part of the team’s success this season, earning the No. 5 seed at the PacWest Championships. In doubles, he partnered with Alejandro Castaneda, and the duo won all of their first four matches of the season and finished with a 5-3 record.
 
Bohren led both his men’s and women’s tennis teams to undefeated seasons against NCAA Division II opponents this year, earning the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history. Azusa Pacific is also the first school to earn the No. 1 seed for both the men and women in tournament history. On the men’s side, Azusa Pacific went 15-3 and beat every team in the PacWest this year at least once for a 9-0 record against conference opponents this year.
 
Concordia’s Yassine Smiej was ranked third by the PacWest coaches after going 8-2 on the season, including a three-set win over Biola’s Alexei Prokopchuk, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5). Prokopchuk was also named to the first team all-conference after registering a 9-5 record at No. 1 singles this season. Hawai`i Hilo’s Martin Soukal has progressed from Freshman of the Year to first-team all-conference in his sophomore season with three wins at No. 1 singles in a shortened season. Tyler Davis from Point Loma also earned first-team recognition. With arguably the best serve in the conference, Davis won three matches this season and split his head-to-head results against Prokopchuk.
 
Hawai`i Pacific’s Benjamin Loccisano earned second-team All-PacWest recognition for his third career all-conference honors as he helped the Sharks earn the No. 3 seed in the PacWest Championships. Nuno also repeated All-PacWest honors, earning a spot on the second team with a 12-2 record at No. 2 & 3 singles this season. Leyton Bohren earned his second All-PacWest doubles honor, and Yuki Okamoto was named to the all-conference doubles team for the third time in his career, partnering with Davis this year.
 

2021 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S TENNIS AWARDS
Player of the Year	Jakob Schnaitter	Azusa Pacific
Newcomer of the Year	Tales Silva	Point Loma
Freshman of the Year	Sam Sippel	Azusa Pacific
Coach of the Year	Mark Bohren	Azusa Pacific

2021 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S TENNIS SINGLES
Name	School	Year	Hometown
FIRST TEAM
Jakob Schnaitter **	Azusa Pacific	Jr.	Wasserburg, Germany
Sam Sippel	Azusa Pacific	Fr.	Nuernberg, Germany
Yassine Smiej *	Concordia	Jr.	Rabat, Morocco
Martin Soukal *	Hawai`i Hilo	So.	Brno, Czech Republic
Alexei Prokopchuk	Biola	So.	Dnipro, Ukraine
Tyler Davis	Point Loma	So.	Fontana, Calif.
SECOND TEAM
Patrick Wong	Concordia	So.	Taipei, Taiwan
Benjamin Loccisano **	Hawai`i Pacific	Sr.	Duisburg, Germany
Felix Einig	Hawai`i Pacific	Fr.	Mayen, Germany
Alessio Demichelis	Hawai`i Hilo	Fr.	Casale Monferrato, Italy
Ryan Nuno *	Azusa Pacific	Jr.	Sylmar, Calif.
Daniel Llorente	MSU Denver	Jr.	Malaga, Spain
THIRD TEAM
Leyton Bohren	Azusa Pacific	So.	Claremont, Calif.
Tales Silva	Point Loma	Sr.	Sao Paulo, Brazil
Kilian Matre	Hawai`i Pacific	Fr.	France
Luca Checchia	Hawai`i Hilo	So.	Valencia, Spain
Jack McDermott	MSU Denver	Fr.	Queensland, Australia
Steven Howe	Colorado Mesa	So.	Temecula, Calif.