Collin College sophomore tennis player Rafal Bed­narczuk is an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Junior College Athletic Association (NJ­CAA) All-American. The honor tops a strong season for Collin College’s men’s and women’s tennis teams, both of which finished in the top 15 nationally.

The title All-American is given to student-athletes who finish in the top 10 play­ers in singles play as ranked by the ITA, the governing body of college tennis in the United States. Bednarczuk, originally from Lublin, Po­land, ranked fourth in sin­gles play, nationally.

“He is a great student ath­lete who gives 100 percent on and off the court,” Coach Charity Andrews said. “He works hard daily not just on the tennis court but also takes care of eating healthy and staying in shape. I am excited to have him return­ing for year two.”

Andrews also noted that Bednarczuk has a 4.0 GPA. He and his doubles partner Michel Zobel ranked sev­enth in the nation, but only the top five ITA NJCAA doubles teams are honored as All-American.

The Collin College men’s team finished sixth overall, nationally. Other ranked men’s singles players in­cluded: No. 13 Agustin Ka­linowski, No. 21 Timothy Karpinski, No. 35 Jorge Abreu, and No. 50, Charlie Heffernan. Collin’s other top men’s doubles teams were No. 14 Kalinowski and Valentin Rivadeo and No. 24 Heffernan and Edward Shteyn.

Collin College’s women’s team finished 11th overall. Sophomore Cameron Ward ranked 31st nationally and was part of a No. 13 dou­bles team along with Mariah Gonzalez.

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From Staff Reports • [email protected]