SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) has announced its year-end awards in men's tennis, and UW-Superior has swept the major awards.
 
Yellowjacket freshman Igor Guetten Chaves (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) has been named the UMAC Player of the Year, as well as the UMAC Rookie of the Year. Head Coach CeeJay Schaffner, meanwhile, has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year.

In addition, Guetten Chaves, Ren Kurachi (Yokohama, Japan/Yokosuka Gakuin) and Andre Luiz de Melo Guedes (Brasilia, Brazil/Centro de Ensino Médio Paulo Freire) were named All-UMAC First Team, while Vitor Sakakibara (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Saber), Jacob Zacharias (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Jace Gilbertson (Menomonie, Wis./Menomonie Senior) were named All-UMAC Second Team.
 
Zacharias was also the UW-Superior entry on the UMAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
 
Guetten Chaves had a dominant rookie season for the Yellowjackets, helping the team to the UMAC North Division championship and a trip to the championship match of the UMAC tournament. Playing the entire season at No. 1 singles, Guetten Chaves posted a record of 14-5, including a mark of 5-1 in UMAC play.
 
Playing with a variety of doubles partners at the No. 1 position, Guetten Chaves went 16-8 on the year. The bulk of the time he partnered with fellow freshman Kurachi, and the duo posted a 12-6 mark.
 
It's the second year in a row the Yellowjackets have had the UMAC Player of the Year, as Michael Janes (Bismarck, N.D./Legacy) won the honor in 2022.

Speaking of Kurachi, he was stellar in his first season with the Yellowjackets, going 15-7 in singles play, including 14-4 in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots. At the ITA Midwest Regional, Kurachi teamed with Luiz de Melo Guedes to make a run in doubles play, advancing further than any UW-Superior team in the event's history. For the year in doubles play, Kurachi was 15-9, plaing primarily with Guetten Chaves and Luiz de Melo Guedes.
 
Fellow All-UMAC First Team selection Luiz de Melo Guedes set the program records for career singles and doubles wins in 2023, and for the year posted a 9-6 singles record to go along with a mark of 17-4 in doubles play. He was particularly dominant when partnering with Zacharias, as the pair went 13-2 on the year.
 
Sakakibara earned All-UMAC Second Team honors after going 17-7 in singles play and 15-4 in doubles action. A versatile player, Sakakibara played anywhere from No. 1 through No. 5 singles and in doubles play had seven different partners. Zacharias, whose victory won the 2022 UMAC tournament title for the Yellowjackets, enjoyed a full season after missing significant time last year. He fashioned a singles record of 15-7 and a doubles mark of 19-5. Playing anywhere from No. 3 to No. 6 singles, Gilbertson went a perfect 11-0 in 2023. In doubles play, Gilbertson had a mark of 2-0.
 
Schaffner guided the Yellowjacket men to a record-setting season in 2023, as the team set a new program record for wins in a season on the way to an overall mark of 23-4 and a perfect 10-0 mark in UMAC play. After a strong showing at the ITA Midwest Regional in October, Schaffner's Yellowjackets reeled off 11 straight wins to start the regular season, another program record.
 
It's the second year in a row that Schaffner was named the UMAC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year.