April 29, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Just two days after earning Big Ten Tennis Athlete of the Week, junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) was named to the Men's Tennis All-Big Ten Team on Thursday evening. Bourchier is just the program's sixth-player to earn all-conference laurels.
Bourchier, who is currently ranked 93rd in the latest ITA singles rankings, had a stellar year playing primarily in the No. 1 bout for the Nittany Lions. The junior went an impressive 15-7 this year, including 11-7 in the No. 1 spot. Bourchier went 5-5 in the Big Ten this spring. He most recently picked up a three-set victory at Northwestern over Joshua Graves to clinch a 4-3 match victory for the Nittany Lions on Sunday. That performance earned him Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors. Earlier today, Bourchier defeated Graves again in a 4-3 rematch loss to the Wildcats.
Bourchier faced-off with nine ranked opponents this season as he went 5-4 against those foes. The Australian native holds a 58-37 career record with the Nittany Lions.
Bourchier has put together a stellar season in doubles action as well. Most recently, he has teamed up with senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec). They finished the season 4-4 as a team with two big doubles victories over ranked opponents, earning them a No. 58 national ranking. Last Friday at No. 27 Wisconsin, the Lion duo recorded an 8-7 (7-3) victory over the 16th-ranked doubles team in the country in Moritz Bauman and Marek Michalicka. The pairing then finished their strong weekend with a victory over Northwestern's 54th-ranked team of Joshua Graves and Spencer Wolf, 8-3.
In addition to the All-Big Ten Team, the conference also announced the 2010 sportsmanship nominees on Thursday. Senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) was one of 11 student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. These student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.