May 31, 2008

Malibu, Calif. -- Pepperdine men's tennis players Andre Begemann and Bassam Beidas earned All-American honors for the 2008 tennis season, as announced by the ITA on Friday (May 30).

A player must meet any of the following criteria to earn ITA All-American honors:

Singles
1. Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championships, or;
2. Reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championships, or;
3. Finish in the Top 20 of the final ITA Rankings.

Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) finished his collegiate career at the semi-finals of the NCAA Division I Singles Championship on Sunday (May 25). He received the No. 5 spot in the final rankings by the ITA for the 2007-08 season. Begemann was selected by the WCC as the Player of the Year for 2008, as well as earning Pepperdine's Most Outstanding Male Athlete for the year. This marks the third year that Begemann has received All-American honors.

Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) ranked 37th going into the NCAA Singles Championships, made it to the quarter-finals before being defeated by No. 8 Alex Clayton (Stanford). Beidas finished his season as the 22 ranked athlete by ITA. He also earned first team WCC honors in singles.