2020-21 Liberty League Men’s Tennis Awards
Player of the Year: Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez, Graduate Student, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate student Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez has been selected as the Liberty League Player of the Year. Castillo-Sanchez, an All-American during the 2019-20 year, returned for a fifth season following the cancellation of the spring 2020 campaign. He was unbeaten in singles play with a perfect 5-0 record at the top of the lineup while going 5-1 at first doubles with teammate Andrew Imrie. For his career, Castillo-Sanchez went 61-30 in singles play, including a 38-19 record in the number-one position, which he occupied for all but three dual matches. As a senior last year, he captured the ITA Northeast Regional Championship in both singles and doubles, earning All-American honors in the process.
Rookie of the Year: Sergiu Celebidachi, Sophomore, Skidmore College
Skidmore College sophomore Sergiu Celebidachi was selected as the Liberty League Rookie of the Year. In limited competition before the 2020 spring season was cancelled, Celebidachi played in the bottom of the Thoroughbred lineup, but worked his way up to the top position this spring. He went 3-1 at first singles with his lone loss coming against Castillo-Sanchez. In doubles play, he combined with junior Noah Williamson to go 4-2 at first doubles, including an 8-7 win against RPI in the Liberty League championship match en route to the Throughbreds' claiming the 2021 Liberty League team title.
Coaching Staff of the Year: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Head Coach Jon Satkowski
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute head coach Jon Satkowski was selected as the Liberty League Coach of the Year. Due to COVID-19 campus restrictions, the Engineers were not able to begin their match season until April 24. After opening the season with a 6-3 win over Skidmore, Rensselaer went 4-0 in an abbreviated regular-season to earn the top seed in the Liberty League tournament. RPI rallied from a 2-1 deficit after doubles play to defeat Vassar 5-3 to earn a berth in the championship match. The Engineers fell to Skidmore in the final.
First Team All-Liberty League (Singles)
Walker Anderson, Sr., Hobart
Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez, Gr., RPI
Sergiu Celebidachi, So., Skidmore
David Gandham, Sr., Vassar
Andrew Imrie, Sr., RPI
Jay Wong, Fr., Vassar
Second Team All-Liberty League (Singles)
Benjamin Almquist, Fr., Vassar
Winter Fagerberg, Fr., Hobart
Brendan Jimenez, So., Skidmore
Zachary Portnoy, Fr., Skidmore
Minos Stavrakas, Gr., Ithaca
Nathan Turtledove, So., St. Lawrence
Honorable Mention (Singles)
Ioannis Binopoulos, Jr., Union
Adam Krueger, Sr., Vassar
Peter Lohrbach, Jr., RPI
Brian Niguidula, Sr., RPI
Abraham Yohannes, So., RPI
First Team All-Liberty League (Doubles)
Walker Anderson, Sr. / Jett Wright, So., Hobart
Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez, Gr. / Andrew Imrie, Sr., RPI
Sergiu Celebidachi, So. / Noah Williamson, Jr., Skidmore
Second Team All-Liberty League (Doubles)
Jeremy Atwater, Sr. / Winter Fagerberg, Fr., Hobart
Connor Biernat, Jr. / Brendan Jimenez, So., Skidmore
David Gandham, Sr. / Adam Krueger, Sr., Vassar
Honorable Mention (Doubles)
Benjamin Almquist, Fr. / Jay Wong, Fr., Vassar
Leo Romanetz, Sr. / Nathan Turtledove, So., St. Lawrence