Cougars Earn All-American Accolades
BY CSU Sports Information
TEMPE, Ariz. –The Columbus State University men's tennis team continues to rake in the honors as three players were named 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Americans.
Senior KP Pannu and sophomore Alvaro Regalado were named All-Americans for their singles work while Regaldo and senior Zach Whaanga earned a spot on the doubles All-American team.
Pannu is wrapping up the most storied career in Cougar history. Now a three-time singles All-American, Pannu was named the ITA Senior National Player of the Year after finishing the year ranked number one in the nation. The New Zealand native went 23-2 in 2019, including grabbing nine wins over nationally ranked opponents. For his work, he was named the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive season becoming just the fifth player in conference history to win the honor twice.
In his career, Pannu posted a 79-19 overall record playing the majority of the matches at the first position. Over his final two seasons, Pannu was excellent going 44-5 and leading the Cougars to the 2018 NCAA national championship and then back to the finals this season. He wraps up his CSU career with four career All-American accolades after earning honors last season for his doubles work.
Regalado is quickly making his mark on the Columbus State tennis program. With his two All-American honors this season, Regalado joins Pannu and CSU Hall of Fame member Mauricio Roveri as the only male players to have four total All-American awards in a career. After being named the ITA National Rookie of the Year in 2018, Regalado continued to break out in singles play going 23-1 for the Cougars, including winning 20 straight to end the season. In addition to a 7-0 record against nationally ranked opponents, the sophomore won seven matches this postseason topping the run off with a 6-0, 6-0 win in the national championship.
In doubles, Regalado and Whaanga were ranked number one in the nation wire-to-wire this season. The duo went 24-3 playing out of the number one position and did their best work towards the end of the year. After dropping a match in late March, Regalado and Whaanga turned it on winning 10 straight matches and were 8-0 in the postseason.
The pair is just the third doubles team in CSU history to be named All-Americans in consecutive seasons. In their time together, Regalado and Whaanga had a 44-4 record.
Whaanga ends his Cougar career as a three-time All-American after earning singles and doubles honors last season.
Since 1970, the Columbus State men's tennis program has had 16 All-Americans for singles play while nine doubles pairings have been awarded the honor.
CSU is coming off yet another historic season in 2019. The Cougars advanced to the NCAA national championship for the second consecutive year and also won the Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships.