Franz, Airaldi Earn All-Atlantic Sun Conference Honors
4/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - After completing a 15-6 regular season and finishing third in the Atlantic Sun Conference with an 8-2 record, the USC Upstate men's tennis team placed two players on the All-Atlantic Sun Conference team as senior Sandy Franz (Duesseldorf, Germany/Berufskolleg Hilden) earned first-team honors and sophomore Renzo Airaldi (Lima, Peru/Domingo Faustin Sarmiento) was a second-team selection, the conference office announced on Thursday afternoon.
Franz finished the season 19-12 in singles play for the Spartans, playing in the No. 1 singles slot and added an 18-13 mark in doubles play. The 37 combined wins are ninth in school history. Although he had to fight injuries throughout the spring to his shoulder and his ankle, Franz had one of the most memorable falls in school history, helping him earn the school's first Division I national singles ranking, beginning the spring 96th in the ITA rankings. In the fall, Franz defeated two players ranked in the nation's top 100 in the ITA rankings and won tournament singles titles at the USC Fall Invitational (`A' Flight) and the USC Upstate Fall Tennis Tournament (`A' Flight). He also won a doubles title with Airaldi at the Upstate Fall Tournament as well and advanced to the doubles semifinals at the ITA Mideast Regionals.
Franz was a member of the All-Peach Belt Conference team in 2007 and was also a star in the classroom, Franz was a member of the CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team. He finishes his career ninth in singles wins with 44, sixth in doubles wins with 45 and fifth in combined wins with 99.
Airaldi had a monster season playing at No. 2 singles for Upstate, going 26-7 in singles play and 18-13 overall in doubles play. The Peruvian sophomore was just one singles win shy of a 16-year old school record of 27 wins set by James Homan in 1991-92. Still, his 26 singles wins signified just the second time in school history a player reached 25 wins in a season. His 44 combined wins were also just one shy of the school record of 45 set by Jorge Ventura in 1995-96. Airaldi also had an impressive fall, winning the `B' singles flight at the Upstate Fall Tournament and the `B-2' singles flight at the USC Fall Invitational. With Franz, he advanced to the doubles semifinals at the ITA Mideast Regionals.
Airaldi was a member of the All-Peach Belt Conference team in 2007 in doubles and also earned ITA Division II All-American honors as a doubles player also. He has a 32-10 career singles record and a 42-16 career doubles mark.
