Stiefelmeyer Earns ITA All-America Honors
June 04, 2015 | Men's Tennis
The University of Louisville's Sebastian Stiefelmeyer has been named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I All-America singles team as announced by the association Thursday.
In order to earn ITA All-America status in singles, a player must be a top 16 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship, reach the round of 16 in the championship or finish the season ranked among the top 20 players in the ITA rankings.
The honor comes on the heels of an outstanding season in which the senior from Vienna, Austria won the ITA All-American Championship, reached as high as No. 1 in the singles rankings and earned the overall No. 5 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship. After reaching the round of 16 in the NCAA championship, Stiefelmeyer finished the season at No. 9 in the final ITA singles rankings.
Stiefelmeyer leaves Louisville as one of the program's most highly-decorated players. In addition to his All-America honors, he was an all-conference selection in three different leagues, most recently taking home 2015 All-ACC first team honors. He was also named the Ohio Valley Region's Most Improved Senior and became the program's first national Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award winner in 2015.
After entering the 2014-15 fall season at No. 110 in the ITA singles rankings, Stiefelmeyer proceeded to become the first Louisville player to capture the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championship by winning nine straight matches with six upset victories. In the spring, he went on to become the nation's top-ranked player - twice - and remained in the top eight throughout the 2015 dual match season. He made his first NCAA singles championship appearance as the overall No. 5 seed. After compiling a 42-7 overall singles mark in 2015, he now owns the school record for wins in a season and stands third on the all-time list with 114 victories.
"Sebastian exceeded all the thresholds of being an All-American," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "I cannot ask for much more than what Sebastian achieved his senior year and the pride that he had for Louisville. He told me many times how happy he was that he chose UofL from the many schools that recruited him. He is a living legend on this campus and we wish him great success in his tournaments this summer."
Stiefelmeyer becomes the fourth player in program history to earn All-America honors and only the third to do so in singles. Michael Mather (1998) and Austen Childs (2010) represented Louisville in singles while Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk were doubles All-Americans in 2011.
Players Mentioned
