DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team swept all four individual awards and placed five individuals on the 2014 All-Sun Conference roster, which was announced at the conference tournament banquet held at the Pelican Bay Country Club on Wednesday. Headlining the list of ERAU honorees were Deni Zmak, who was named the league's Player of the Year, and Simon Felix who was the Champions of Character Award recipient.
 
Coach of the Year honors went to Embry-Riddle head coach Dave Paschal, marking the 10th time in his career that he garnered the award. Paschal led the Eagles to their 10th conference regular season title at 7-0 and they are the top seed in this weekend's conference tournament. ERAU is ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and owns a 16-3 overall record.
 
Zmak, who was named the TSC Player of the Week four times in 2014, garnered Player of the Year honors for the second time in as many seasons. A sophomore from Pula, Croatia, Zmak was undefeated in conference play at 7-0 and matched the Eagles' singles-season wins record with 30 wins. He has earned a 30-3 overall record with his only losses coming to ranked NCAA I and NCAA II opponents, and has a perfect 18-0 ledger against NAIA competition. Zmak won the ITA/NAIA national singles crown, as well as the ITA Super Bowl title, and has been ranked No. 1 in the NAIA all season.
 
Zmak and Felix were also tabbed as the conference's Doubles Team of the Year, marking the second time that Zmak was part of a tandem receiving that honor. . Zmak and Felix won ITA/NAIA National doubles title and became the first pair in ERAU history to win a doubles Super Bowl title. They then went on to register an upset of the NCAA I third-seeded UCLA team at the NCAA I Indoor National Championships. Ranked No. 1 in the national doubles poll, Zmak and Felix posted a 7-0 mark in conference play and bring a 28-4 overall record into the conference tournament.
 
A senior from Geneva, Switzerland, Felix received the Champions of Character Award for the second time in his four-year career. Felix, who earned NAIA National Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career on April 2, has a 21-3 singles record, including a 5-0 mark in league play. He has volunteered for a variety of community service projects, including volunteering at the Halifax Humane Society and Habitat for Humanity, bringing food to and spending time with a homeless family as part of the Food Brings Hope initiative, feeding the homeless and helping conduct clinics for local youth tennis programs.
 
"Simon is the best sportsman ever to play for ERAU," Paschal said about Felix. "Not once in his career has he ever had a problem with an opponent. Simon donates his time to several community service efforts and is an honor roll student and will graduate with honors in Air Traffic Management."
 
Zmak and Felix were both named to the All-Conference first team, along with newcomer Jaime Sanchez-Canamares Rios, while Patrick Besch and Miguel Lopez Gomez were named to the second team.
 
A junior transfer, Sanchez-Canamares joined the Eagle lineup in the spring and has turned in an 11-6 record, including a 5-1 TSC mark. He has played all of his singles matches at the No. 2 spot in the Eagle lineup and has teamed up with Besch for a 7-0 doubles record in league play on the way to a 15-2 overall ledger. Sanchez-Canamares is ranked 30^th in the ITA/NAIA singles poll, and he and Becsh are ranked No. 22 in doubles.
 
Besch is making his third appearance on the All-Conference roster. After sitting out the fall with an injury, Besch returned to the Eagle lineup in the spring and has played at both the third and fourth spots in the lineup. He posted in a 6-1 singles record against conference opponents and is 14-5 overall.
 
Now in his second season with the Blue and Gold, Lopez Gomez was named to the second team for the second time in his career. He is 19-6 on the year (6-1 in the conference) in singles, playing the majority of his matches at the No. 5 spot, and has partnered with Luke de Caires for an 11-6 doubles record.
 
Felix and Besch also received recognition for their work in the classroom along with Juan Verberne. Felix has a 3.858 cumulative GPA in Air Traffic Management, while his fellow senior Besch has a 3.733 GPA in Business Administration. Verberne, who was a redshirt in 2012-13, has a 3.854 GPA in Aerospace Engineering.
 
The Eagles are the top seed in the six-team conference tournament and will have a bye in the first round, which gets underway on Thursday morning. They will begin defense of their conference tournament crown at 2 p.m. on Friday against the winner of Friday's match between Northwood and SCAD Savannah.

The tournament is being hosted by Embry-Riddle at the Crotty Tennis Complex and the tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship in Mobile, Ala., May 13-17.