ROCK HILL, S.C. – With the start of the 2018 tennis season just a week away, Anderson University men's tennis has been projected to finish fifth in the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Preseason Poll, while sophomore Ignacio Bidegain was named to preseason first-team singles, as released by the league office on Thursday.

Sophomore Ignacio Bidegain landed in the No. 19 spot in the singles Southeast Region rankings back in November. The native of Buenos Aires, tallied a final 2017 season record of (16-4, 7-3 SAC) on his way to All-SAC First Team honors following his freshman year campaign. Bidegain won his two fall singles matches in convincing fashion over North Greenville and Emmanuel.

The Trojans finished the 2018 campaign 18-6 overall and 7-4 in conference action. The Black and Gold were just edged out by Newberry in the opening round of the SAC Tournament.

Queens (108 points) was voted as the preseason favorite while earning eight first place votes. Wingate (101 points) earned two first place votes and was selected second. Newberry (83 points) was third with two one place votes.

Lincoln Memorial (80 points) fills the fourth spot while Anderson (78 points) is fifth, Tusculum was voted sixth, Lenoir-Rhyne seventh and Carson-Newman eighth. Rounding out the poll is Catawba, Coker and Mars Hill.

Anderson will open up the 2018 season on the road at Southern Wesleyan on Friday, Feb. 2 at 3 p.m.

2018 SAC Men's Tennis Preseason All-Conference

 First Team Doubles

1.       Josh DuToit/Daniel Belsito, Wingate

2.       PaoloBompieri/Andor Vas, Queens

3.       Edison Ambarzumjan/Joran Monosky, Newberry

 Second Team Doubles

1.       Xavier Marti/Josh Peress, Lincoln Memorial

2.       Agustin Aran / Sebastian Meum, Queens

3.       Tomas Kmetko/Yago Fernandez, Tusculum

 First Team Singles

1.       Edison Ambarzumjan, Newberry

2.       Ignacio Bidegain, Anderson

3.       Paolo Bompieri, Queens

4.       Daniel Belsito, Wingate

5.       Xavier Marti, Lincoln Memorial

6.       Thomas Kmetko, Tusculum

 Second Team Singles

1.       Hamed Gandouz, Lenoir-Rhyne

2.       Yago Fernandez, Tusculum

3.       Jordan Monosky, Newberry

4.       Agustin Aran Martin, Queens

5.       Tomas Hons, Lenoir-Rhyne

6.       Mark Watt, Coker College

2018 SAC Men's Tennis Preseason Poll