NEW ORLEANS – Five New Orleans Privateers student-athletes earned a spot on the All-Louisiana tennis teams and
Burzis Kanga won a Coach of the Year award for the third consecutive season. The awards from the 2022-23 season were announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Kanga, who has won both men's and women's Coach of the Year honors in the Southland Conference, earned All-Louisiana Coach of the Year in '23 for the historic year the men put together. It was the first time in school history New Orleans won an outright conference title in tennis after they went unblemished against conference foes.
Kanga's Coach of the Year honors from the past three seasons are:
2021 All-Louisiana Women
2021 Southland Women
2022 Southland Men
2023 All-Louisiana Men
2023 Southland Men
Also earning All-Louisiana recognition is
Luke Joujan. He won Southland accolades in singles (First Team) and doubles (Second Team) in his 2023 spring campaign. Joujan was one of five Privateers who reached double digit wins in singles last season and he went undefeated against Southland foes in the regular season.
Also earning superlatives were
Karim Al-Amin and
Didi Bredberg Canizares. They swept Freshman of the Year awards as they both did in the Southland postseason awards. Al-Amin was also Co-Player of the Year as he shared the award with Karlo Karjin (Louisiana) and Stefan Latinovic (LSU). It was the first time in history tennis had three student-athletes share the award for top player in the state.
Al-Amin and Bredberg both had incredible freshman campaigns on the Lakefront. Al-Amin had a combined record of 26-7 while Bredberg sported a mark of 23-8.
Espen Lagarde and
Max Heinzel also earned All-Louisiana honors. Lagarde was a First Team All-Southland member while Heinzel earned Second Team honors in singles and doubles. Lagarde was 12-5 in singles while Heinzel finished 12-6 in singles last season.
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