Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Tennis Announces Team Awards for 2003-04 Season
5/3/2004 8:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 3, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell men's and women's tennis head coach Rebecca Helt has announced the honorees for the team's Coaches Awards for the 2003-04 season. Asher Salam (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) and Samantha Berthod (White Plains, N.Y./Ursuline School) received the Coaches Award, while Berthod was recognized for her captaincy of the women's team and Nick Denefrio (Schenectady, N.Y./Niskayuna) for his role as the men's team captain. Joe Menezes (Staten Island, N.Y./Polytech Prep) and Chelsea Mills (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) won their respective team's Most Valuable Player honors.
Berthod is the only senior on either the men's or women's squad. This season, she accrued a 17-14 singles record and 22-6 doubles mark. She leaves Bucknell as the second-winningest player in school history, with 61 singles wins and 106 total victories, and the third-winningest doubles player, with 45 wins. She earned the women's Coaches Award "for demonstrating a high level of leadership and character on and off the court. She consistently leads by example and is often admired for her positive strength in character."
Salam, a sophomore, compiled a 15-14 singles record and was 11-15 in doubles this year. He earned the men's Coaches Award "for his outstanding display of sportsmanship on the court. He frequently commends his opponents for their fine play and conducts himself in a manner consistent with the goals of the Patriot League. He was recently recognized for his good sportsmanship by an opposing league coach who nominated him for a Patriot League sportsmanship award."
Denefrio is one of four juniors on the men's squad and finished the year tied for 18th on the Bucknell total wins list with Menezes at 58 total wins. He also is tied for 10th with John Newman '96 with 33 doubles wins.
Junior Menezes and sophomore Mills were chosen for their win-loss records over the season. Menezes compiled a 17-10 singles record, winning his first eight in the fall and his flight at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference's tournament in the process. His 17 wins were a team high, as was his .630 winning percentage this year. In addition to sharing the 18 spot on the total wins list, Menezes is in a four-way tie for 13th with 37 career singles wins.
Mills finishes with a 26-8 singles record, a team high for wins, as well as a 20-8 doubles mark. The sophomore stands in 16th on Bucknell's career singles wins list with 33, in a six-way tie for 15th with 26 doubles wins, and in 16th on the total wins list with 59, tied with former teammate Jill Wurzburg '03.
The men's team finished with a 9-11 record, narrowly missing out on a non-losing season after its 7-21 finish in 2002-03, while the women's team won a school-record 16 dual matches, with four defeats, for the fourth time in Bucknell history.
