Vukicevic earns second NAIA All-America honor of year
June 3, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — Miroslav Vukicevic of Xavier University of Louisiana earned his second All-America honor of the season when he was named Tuesday to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's NAIA men's team.

Twenty-nine men earned the honor, based on a top-20 finish in the ITA's final singles rankings or a top-10 finish in doubles. Vukicevic qualified with a No. 9 singles ranking.

Vukicevic, a senior from Sombor, Serbia-Montenegro, was 12-9 in singles and 13-10 in doubles this year. His most notable victory was 6-4, 6-3 on Feb. 17 against Fresno Pacific's Matt Carroll, who was seventh in singles and third in doubles in the final rankings.

In May Vukicevic was named to the NAIA Men's Tennis Tournament Committee's All-America squad.

Vukicevic is Xavier's first men's tennis All-American in the modern era. Jimmie McDaniel, who played for Xavier in the 1930s, won multiple men's singles national championships in the American Tennis Association.

Xavier women's players Anastesia Opata and Dominque Bell, both named in May to the NAIA Women's Tennis Tournament Committee's All-America squad, barely missed inclusion on the ITA squad. Opata was No. 22 in the final singles rankings, and she and Bell were 13th in doubles. Bell was 30th in singles.

Xavier's men were 15-9 this year, ranked 17th in the final coaches poll and won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. Xavier's women were 17-8, ranked 13th and reached the second round of the NAIA National Championship for the third time. Both programs in April earned their first victories in the NAIA Region XIII Tournament.