University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Thursfield, Bierbaum, Reid garner All-Big South Men’s Tennis honors
04.21.2022 | Men's Tennis
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference released its men's tennis annual awards on Thursday afternoon, with three Bulldogs earning all-conference honors, led by Harry Thursfield who was named All-Big South First Team Singles. Leo Bierbaum and Jon Brann Reid each picked up multiple awards, both being named All-Big South Second Team Singles while teaming up to earn All-Big South Second Team Doubles honors. Additionally, Bierbaum was named to the All-Academic team.
Thursfield keeps improving his game each season, going 11-2 in singles (finished 11-3) matches including a mark of 6-1 in conference competition prior to the first-round match at Presbyterian. In the regular season, the junior from Twickenham, United Kingdom, was 7-2 overall at the No. 2 flight, 4-0 at No. 3 and 5-1 at the No. 1 flight in Big South matches. Nine of Thursfield's 11 wins were in straight sets, including a two-set win that helped UNC Asheville defeat South Carolina State 4-3 back in February. Thursfield, who was named 2021 Second Team All-Conference Doubles, held his opponents to two or less points in 13 sets of singles action and competed in 12 doubles matches throughout the season.
Bierbaum capped off his Bulldog career in strong fashion, going 9-4 in singles competition and 4-2 in Big South play, with a 6-1 mark at the No. 2 flight overall. Eight of Bierbaum's nine wins were in straight sets, including a straight-set victory that helped UNC Asheville top UNCG 4-3 at the beginning of the season. Down the stretch, the Nürnberg, Germany, native ended the season winning three of his last four singles matches. The all-academic representative for the Bulldogs, Bierbaum is quite decorated off the court, speaking three languages (English, German, Italian) while double majoring in economics and business management. In addition to earning Chancellor's List Honors, Bierbaum is a member of the Student-Athletes Advisory Committee (SAAC), volunteers as a tennis coach and has been a team captain since August. Bierbaum was also the first Bulldog student-athlete to land an investment banking internship (D'Angelin & Co.), and has been accepted into multiple programs where he will attain a master's in finance.
After garnering Freshman of the Year, First Team All-Conference Singles and Second Team Doubles honors last season, Reid made the jump to the No. 1 singles flight this year, going 8-8 overall with three Big South wins. Reid's victory at North Carolina A&T helped Asheville score a 4-3 league win. Six of the sophomore's eight wins were in straight sets, as half of Reid's losses this season were pushed to three.
As a duo, Bierbaum and Reid were nearly perfect this regular season, going 6-1 at the No. 1 flight including a 2-1 mark in conference. Bierbaum and Reid opened the season with five straight doubles victories, with five of its wins on the season being by a margin of 6-2 or better. This is the second all-conference doubles award for both players.
2022 Big South Conference Men's Tennis Award Winners
First Team All-Conference Singles
Demis Taramonlis, Radford
Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Esteban Lopez, North Carolina A&T
Eduardo Dias, Gardner-Webb
Harry Thursfield, UNC Asheville
Damien Nezar, Campbell
Pol Otin, Campbell
Vasil Ivanov, North Carolina A&T
First Team All-Conference Doubles
Max Benson / Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Demis Taramonlis / Andres Silva, Radford
Damien Nezar / Benjamin Maes, Campbell
Esteban Lopez / Vasil Ivanov, North Carolina A&T (tie)
Guilherme Severin / Konstantinos Raptis, Radford (tie)
Second Team All-Conference Singles
Tomas Balazi, Campbell
Jon Brann Reid, UNC Asheville
Aditya Balsekar, Radford
Max Benson, Presbyterian College
Andres Silva, Radford
Sebastian Dominguez, Presbyterian College
Leo Bierbaum, UNC Asheville
Javier Matos, Presbyterian College
Second Team All-Conference Doubles
Jon Brann Reid / Leo Bierbaum, UNC Asheville
Javier Matos / Sebastian Dominguez, Presbyterian College
Tomas Balazi / Leon Petko, Campbell
Connor Enslin / Sebastian Harris, Gardner-Webb
All-Academic Team
Noe Macquart, Campbell
Victor Putter, Gardner-Webb
Cliff Dwyer, Hampton
Rosen Naydenov, Longwood
Vasil Ivanov, North Carolina A&T
Nicholas McKinney, Presbyterian College
Andres Silva, Radford
Leo Bierbaum, UNC Asheville
Player of the Year
Demis Taramonlis, Radford
Freshman of the Year
Dusan Milanovic, Presbyterian College
Coach of the Year
David Johnson, Campbell
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Nicholas McKinney, Presbyterian College
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