Aug. 24, 2004
SKILLMAN, N.J. - The 2004 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Star Team, presented by The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, will be honored on August 27 at the historic West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y. Baylor seniors Benedikt Dorsch and Benjamin Becker were both named to the all-star team. This 21st edition of the ITA Collegiate All-Star Team includes the nation's top-ranked men's and women's tennis players at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and NJCAA levels, as well as champions from the 2003 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships and 2004 NCAA Championships. This year's ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, presented by Montblanc - Lee Taylor Walker of Memphis and Courtney Nagle of Oregon - will also be honored at the event. This year's men's all-stars are: Ivan Angulo of the College of Santa Fe, Richard Barker of Rice, William Barker of Rice, Benjamin Becker of Baylor, KC Corkery of Stanford, Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor, Jan Krejci of BYU-Hawaii, Alex Ortega of Laredo, Matt Seeberger of UC-Santa Cruz, Ludovic Walter of Duke, Sam Warburg of Stanford, Jeremy Wurtzman of Ohio State and Jason Zimmerman of Duke. The women's all-stars are: Lauren Barnikow of Stanford, Daniela Bercek of UCLA, Erin Burdette of Stanford, Agata Cioroch of Georgia, Lauren Fisher of UCLA, Idalina Franca of Independence, Alexis Gordon of Florida, Cristelle Grier of Northwestern, Zsofia Golopencza of Armstrong Atlantic State, Mary Ellen Gordon of Emory, Karine Ionesco of Broward, Amber Liu of Stanford, Jessica Rush of Northwestern and Larikah Russell of Southern Nazarene. Baylor's Dorsch and Stanford's Liu will be honored as the ITA National Players of the Year. Both players finished at No. 1 in the ITA singles rankings. Liu also received this award in 2003. The ITA Collegiate All-Star Team will be treated by the ITA and The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy to a weekend in New York, highlighted by the Aug. 27 activities at the West Side Tennis Club, site of the U.S. Open until 1977. Following a breakfast at West Side, the ITA All-Stars will participate in doubles play with guests from 9-11 a.m. Starting at noon the ITA All-Stars will then be honored at a special luncheon and presented their awards. Nick Bollettieri will be on hand for the awards ceremony. The legendary Bollettieri founded his world famous tennis academy in 1978 and has coached many of the top players including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Tommy Haas, Jim Courier and Maria Sharapova. Dorsch and Becker led the Baylor men's tennis team to the school's first-ever NCAA Championship when the Bears won the 2004 NCAA title in Tulsa, Okla. In addition to garnering ITA Player of the Year honors, Dorsch was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and Becker claimed the NCAA singles championship. The ITA has selected an All-Star Team since 1984.
