Six members of the Northern Illinois University men’s tennis team have been named to the Academic All-Mid-American Conference team, announced by the league office on Wednesday (June 8) afternoon.
Kristopher Ortega (Homer Glen, Ill.) picked up his third Academic All-MAC recognition, Mikko Malinen (Malmo, Sweden) and Mikael Vollbach (Rothis, Austria) each received the honor for the second time while Armin Koschtojan (Halle, Germany), Oliver Valentinsson (Malmo, Sweden) and Luke VanDonslear (Marion, Iowa) were named to the conference all-academic team for the first time.
Valentinsson, a business administration major with a 3.95 GPA, and Ortega, a business administration major with a 3.83 GPA, both earned conference honors for their on-court exploits as well, with Valentinsson being named to the All-MAC First Team and Ortega selected to the All-MAC Second Team. Valentinsson had 15-6 dual match record during the 2022 season while Ortega won seven singles matches and the pair teamed for an 8-4 doubles mark.
A finance major with a 4.0 GPA, Vollbach had a 14-6 singles record, including an 8-2 conference mark. Koschtojan and VanDonslear have identical 3.94 GPAs, Koschtojan in business administration and VanDonslear in Kinesiology, the duo also paired for much of the middle of the season in doubles, winning five matches together. Malinen is a marketing major with a 3.7 GPA, he won nine singles matches in 2022.
To qualify for Academic All-MAC honors, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests during the season.
2022 NIU Men’s Tennis Academic All-MAC Honorees
- Armin Koschtojan, Sophomore, Business Administration, 3.94
- Mikko Malinen, Junior, Marketing, 3.70
- Kristopher Ortega, RS Senior, Business Administration (M.S.), 3.83
- Oliver Valentinsson, Junior, Business Administration, 3.95
- Luke VanDonslear, Sophomore, Kinesiology, 3.94
- Mikael Vollbach, Sophomore, Finance, 4.00