Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

Three schools gather up UMAC Men's Tennis All-Conference Awards

5/10/2012 10:49:23 AM

ST. PAUL -- Thursday’s release of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men’s tennis postseason awards featured several players from three different schools as the College of St. Scholastica, Northwestern College and Martin Luther College grabbed all 12 spots on the all-conference list.

UMAC Player of the Year Jake Engelstad headlined a group of five all-conference representatives to receive All-UMAC honors. Engelstad went nearly flawless at No. 1 singles throughout the Saints’ 10 conference matches, going 9-1 overall. St. Scholastica’s Kevin Hilpert, Brian Lindberg, James Mack and Kolin Dean joined Engelstad on the all-conference team.

Northwestern had four All-UMAC selections, including Keagan Blancke, who won all 10 of his UMAC singles contests, most of which came at the No. 3 position. The Eagles’ David Knight, Caleb Kauss and Jimmy Ekman also received all-conference honors. Rounding out the all-conference list was Martin Luther’s Scott Henrich, Paul Koester and Benjamin Nommensen.

St. Scholastica Head Coach Wells Patten was elected the UMAC Coach of the Year by his colleagues from around the league. Under Patten’s leadership, the Saints swept their conference schedule, winning both the UMAC regular season and tournament titles.

North Central University won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches to best represent sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team had one representative on the individual sportsmanship award list. The following participants best exemplified sportsmanship throughout the year:

David Blumer, Bethany Lutheran College
Nick Lind, College of St. Scholastica
Scott Henrich, Martin Luther College
Zach Claussen, North Central University
Keagan Blancke, Northwestern College
Caleb Power, University of Minnesota Morris

All-Conference
Name	Institution	Year
Kolin Dean	College of St. Scholastica	Junior
* Jake Engelstad	College of St. Scholastica	Senior
Kevin Hilpert	College of St. Scholastica	Senior
Brian Lindberg	College of St. Scholastica	Senior
James Mack	College of St. Scholastica	Freshman
Scott Henrich	Martin Luther College	Junior
Paul Koester	Martin Luther College	Junior
Benjamin Nommensen	Martin Luther College	Freshman
Keagan Blancke	Northwestern College	Junior
Jimmy Ekman	Northwestern College	Sophomore
Caleb Kauss	Northwestern College	Senior
David Knight	Northwestern College	Junior