LOGAN, Utah – Five Utah State men's tennis players earned various all-Mountain West honors, including Freshman of the Year, it was announced Tuesday as the league released its all-conference teams. In all, USU had three players named to both the singles and doubles teams, while one Aggie was named to the singles team and another to the doubles team. 
 
Graduate senior Bodin Zarkovic, senior Stijn Paardekooper, junior Sergi Micó Fenollar, sophomore Nuno Pinheiro and freshman Mohammad Alkotop were each honored by the league.
 
Alkotop, from Amman, Jordan, was named the MW Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the all-MW singles team. During the 2024 season, Alkotop has recorded 12 wins in singles play, competing at the fourth and fifth positions. In doubles play, he has recorded 13 wins. Alkotop is the second Aggie to earn MW Freshman of the Year honors, joining Isaac Arevalo Gomez who won the award in 2019.
 
Zarkovic, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, was named to the all-MW singles and doubles teams. This season he has recorded 15 singles wins, competing at the first position in all but one match, and 19 doubles wins competing at the second position. Zarkovic is now the most decorated men's tennis player in school history as he has earned all-MW singles and doubles honors a total of six times as he has been named to the singles and doubles teams in each of the last three seasons. Sergiu Bucur also earned all-MW singles honors three times in his career, while Jaime Barajas was named to the all-MW singles team twice and the doubles team once.
 
Micó Fenollar, a native of Cocentaina, Spain, was named to the all-MW singles and doubles teams for the first time in his career. He has competed solely at the number three position for singles and has recorded 13 wins. In doubles play, he has 11 overall wins.
 
Paardekooper, from Voorburg, Netherlands, was named to the all-MW singles and doubles teams for the first time in his career, as well. In singles matches, he recorded 10 wins competing at the second position for the majority of the year. He has also competed in the first position for doubles, where he helped clinch 10 wins.
 
Pinheiro, a native of Sintra, Portugal, was named to the all-MW doubles team for the first time. He competed at the first position all season, along with Paardekooper, and the duo posted 10 wins.
 
USU's next matches will be in the Mountain West Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Aggies enter the tournament as the top seed, earning a bye in the first round. They are set to play in the semifinals on Thursday, April 25, at 6 p.m. (MT), against the winner of the match between fourth-seeded San Diego State and fifth-seeded Nevada.
 
Fans can follow USU's men's tennis team on Twitter @USUMensTennis, on Facebook at /UtahStateMensTennis or on Instagram at USUMensTennis. Fans can follow USU's women's tennis team on Twitter @USUWomensTennis, on Facebook at /UtahStateWomensTennis or on Instagram at USUWomensTennis.
 
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