Pedro Alvarez and Katarina Dukic Named to Horizon League All-Academic Teams; Sofiya Sedovich Named Honorable Mention

For the second consecutive year, Chicago State tennis players Pedro Alvarez and Katarina Dukic were named to the Horizon League's Tennis All-Academic Teams announced today by the conference office while Sofiya Sedovich earned Honorable Mention honors.

All three players excel in the classroom and on the court where Alvarez leads the team with 16 dual wins, including a 4-2 Horizon League record at No. 1 singles. He is the all-time winningest player in Chicago State history with 80 career singles victories. Dukic is 7-6 at No. 2 singles, is 4-4 in conference play and has teamed with Amina Taibi to post a 10-4 doubles mark which includes 3-0 in Horizon League matches. The duo has won eight matches in a row and nine of their last 10 heading into the final weekend of regular season play. Dukic also moved into third on the all-time singles victories list at CSU this season with 56 career singles wins. Sedovich is tied for second on the team lead with 11 singles victories which includes a perfect 4-0 in conference matches and ranks ninth all-time on CSU's career singles victories list with 41 career wins. She has teamed with Ethel Li this season to lead the Cougars in doubles victories with 14 and the duo earned #HLTennis Doubles Team of the Week March 6 of this year.

Alvarez continues to add to his impressive list of honors, both on and off the court. He earned this same honor a season ago and was named to the All-Horizon League First Team, CSC Academic All-District, a 2023 ITA Scholar-Athlete and 2024 Spring Horizon League Academic Honor Roll. He earned the CSU Athletic Department Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor in 2022 as well as being named team MVP after earning Western Athletic Conference First Team Singles All-Conference team honors, his second selection in as many seasons. Alvarez was named First Team All-WAC Singles No. 5 and additionally was named Second Team All-WAC Doubles in 2021.

Dukic also earned this same honor a season ago and was also named to the All-Horizon League First Team, CSC Academic All-District, a 2023 ITA Scholar-Athlete and 2024 Spring Horizon League Academic Honor Roll. She was named the CSU Athletic Department Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year two consecutive seasons and also earned team MVP honors following the 2022 season. As a sophomore, she was an initiate for Epsilon Beta, CSU's Sophomore Honor Society, was named to the President's Honor Roll, was a 2020 ITA Scholar-Athletic and was named Academic All-WAC.

Sedovich was a CSC Academic All-District, a 2023 ITA Scholar-Athlete and 2024 Spring Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and previously was an inductee for Alpha Lambda Delta, National Freshman Honors Society, named to the Provost's Honor Roll and was Academic All-WAC.

"Pedro, Katarina and Sofiya have set the bar of what we believe a Chicago State student-athlete should be," head coach Jack Barton said. "They are heavily focused on the work that takes place on and off the court. I am extremely proud of these three for earning this recognition." 

The Cougars will close out the 2024 regular season with a pair of away matches this weekend, April 20 and 21, traveling to IUPUI Saturday (women at 11 a.m., men at 3 p.m.) and Northern Kentucky Sunday (women at 11:30 a.m., men at 3 pm.). The men's season will end Sunday while the women will be battling for a first-round bye in Horizon League Tournament. 

The following are the 2024 Valeo Horizon League Tennis All-Academic Teams:

2024 Valeo Horizon League Men's Tennis All-Academic Team
Tomas Luis, Belmont
Pedro Alvarez, Chicago State
Thomas Wallace, Eastern Illinois
Kamol Kozerski, IUPUI
Will Thurin, IUPUI
Daniel Caraballo, Tennessee State University
 
2024 Valeo Horizon League Men's Tennis Honorable Mention
Ian Cruz, Belmont
Nate Day, IUPUI
Nick Nienhaus, Northern Kentucky
Nathan Favier, Youngstown State
 
2024 Valeo Horizon League Women's Tennis All-Academic Team
Katarina Dukic, Chicago State
Ella Franz, Cleveland State
Sima Heren, Cleveland State
Nadiia Konieva, Milwaukee
Sara Simonova, Milwaukee
Lili Minich, Youngstown State
 
2024 Valeo Horizon League Women's Tennis Honorable Mention
Sofiya Sedovich, Chicago State
Sofia Castillo, IUPUI
Ashlee Fisk, Northern Kentucky
Eliska Masarikova, Youngstown State

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