Dennis, Pathanjali, Maarschalk named All-MAC
April 30, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- A trio of men's tennis players from Western Michigan University earned recognition from the Mid-American Conference yesterday (April 29).
Senior Ryan Maarschalk of Harare, Zimbabwe, and junior Ravi Pathanjali of Tamilnadu, India, were named to the All-MAC First Team, while sophomore Tom Dennis of Rochester, Mich., earned second-team honors.
Maarschalk earns All-MAC honors for the second straight season, as he was a member of the second team following his junior season. He posted a career-year in his final campaign at WMU. He earned career-highs in singles wins with 29 and overall victories with 50, playing mostly from the No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles position. He was 5-0 in MAC singles play. He finished his career ranked No. 11 on the Western Michigan all-time wins list. Maarschalk is also a two-time recipient of the Scholar Athlete of the Year award, given annually to the male and female student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade-point average. Maarschalk graduated from Western Michigan in April with a 3.72 GPA in biomedical studies.
Pathanjali earns All-MAC recognition for the third straight time, having been named to the second team as a freshman and the first team as a sophomore. He ranked second on the team with 55 total victories, going 29-13 in singles and 26-13 in doubles. Pathanjali was ranked as high as No. 81 in the International Tennis Association singles rankings, and went 3-2 in both singles and doubles in MAC play. With another season of eligibility remaining, Pathanjali already ranks 13th on the WMU all-time wins list with 156.
Dennis posted a breakthrough sophomore campaign, more than doubling his win total from his freshman season. Playing mostly from the No. 3 singles and No. 2/3 doubles position, Dennis went 30-10 in singles and 22-13 in doubles. His 52 wins was third most on the team. He was 12-3 at No. 3 singles, and 4-1 in the MAC in both singles and doubles.
Western Michigan's season ended in the semi-final round of the MAC tournament. The Broncos were 19-5 overall this season, the most wins for WMU since 1985, and expect to return everyone except Maarschalk for the 2003-04 campaign.
Media contact: Travis McCurdy, 269 387-4138, travis.mccurdy@wmich.edu