Pacific's Moritz Starke headlined the announcement of the men's tennis all-conference team Tuesday as the 2007 Big West Player of the Year. UC Santa Barbara's Marty Davis and UC Riverside's York Strother were named Big West Co-Coaches of the Year, while Philip Therp of UC Santa Barbara took home Big West Freshman of the Year honors.

Starke, who hails from Bamberg, Germany, owned a 14-6 dual match record at No. 1 singles this spring. He defeated all five Big West opponents he faced, including fellow first team all-conference foes Matt Baca (Cal Poly), Aaron Yovan (UC Irvine), Mark Contreras (UC Riverside) and Bijan Hejazi (UC Santa Barbara). Starke was a constant bright spot in a year the Tigers struggled, picking up the team's lone point in eight of its losses. He became the third Tiger in the last four years to be named the Big West's top player.

Davis repeated as Coach of the Year, earning the distinction for the fourth time in his career. Under difficult circumstances brought about by a rash of injuries to several top players, Davis still managed to lead UC Santa Barbara to its second straight Big West Tournament championship and fourth title during his eight-year tenure. The Gauchos also are making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance under Davis by virtue of earning the league's automatic bid as Big West Tournament champion.

Strother, in his sixth season at UC Riverside, led the program to its best Division I win total (10). The Highlanders began the year 9-3 and had a six-match winning streak at one point. UCR also beat Pacific twice, including a win at the Big West Tournament that advanced the Highlanders to their first-ever semifinals. In addition, Strother put together a demanding schedule that had the Highlanders playing eight teams ranked in the top 75 of Division I, three top 21 teams at the NAIA level and one top 20 Division 2 squad.

Therp became the second straight Gaucho to earn top freshman honors, following in the footsteps of teammate Bijan Hejazi (2006). Therp finished 6-4 at No. 3 singles for the year. He missed 10 matches earlier this season due to a left wrist injury. After six weeks on the sideline, Therp returned to the court and promptly won Big West Men's Athlete of the Week honors on Mar. 29. Normally a two-handed player, he was cleared to play with one hand the remainder of the season and went 4-3 under those conditions.

The following is a complete listing of the 2007 Big West All-Conference Team:

FIRST TEAM - SINGLES
Name	Yr.	School
Matt Baca	Sr.	Cal Poly
Mark Contreras	Sr.	UC Riverside
Anders Dalskov	Jr.	UC Santa Barbara
Bijan Hejazi	So.	UC Santa Barbara
Moritz Starke	So.	Pacific
Darryn Young	So.	Cal Poly
Aaron Yovan	Sr.	UC Irvine
SECOND TEAM - SINGLES
Name	Yr.	School
Joe Cartledge	Jr.	UC Riverside
Jack Hui	Jr.	UC Santa Barbara
Victor Lamm	Jr.	UC Irvine
Shimpei Suzuki	So.	UC Irvine
Philip Therp	Fr.	UC Santa Barbara
Mustafa Ulukan	Jr.	UC Irvine
HONORABLE MENTION - SINGLES
Name	Yr.	School
Josh Finkelstein	Fr.	UC Santa Barbara
Rob Foy	Fr.	Cal Poly
Zac Tsai	Fr.	UC Irvine
Vegerd Veskimagi	Fr.	Pacific
Vladimir Zdravkovic	Sr.	Pacific

FIRST TEAM - DOUBLES
Name	School
Matt Baca/Kyle Roybal	Cal Poly
Aaron Yovan/Mustafa Ulukan	UC Irvine
Mark Contreras/Joe Cartledge	UC Riverside
Grant Robertson/Anders Dalskov	UC Santa Barbara
SECOND TEAM - DOUBLES
Name	School
Darryn Young/Rob Foy	Cal Poly
Victor Lamm/Alex Sundling	UC Irvine
Nigel Barton/Josh Finkelstein	UC Santa Barbara
Moritz Starke/Vladimir Zdravkovic	Pacific
HONORABLE MENTION - DOUBLES
Name	School
Nick Berger/Fred Dewitte	Cal Poly
Andrei Radulescu/Zac Tsai	UC Irvine
Alan Kelly/Vegerd Veskimagi	Pacific

2007 BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Moritz Starke, Pacific

2007 BIG WEST CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR
York Strother, UC Riverside
Marty Davis, UC Santa Barbara

2007 BIG WEST FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Philip Therp, UC Santa Barbara