Men's Tennis | 5/21/2013 12:03:00 PM

Kansas City, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the 2013 NAIA Men's Tennis All-Americans. Players were selected by the All-America committee. The list of honorees includes 16 student-athletes on each of the first and second teams, plus 16 honorable mentions.  McPherson’s Rafael Bulnes (Rosmalen, Netherlands) and Slav Bukatin (Moscow, Russia) were placed on the second and honorable mention teams, respectively.

Sophomore and newcomer to the Bulldog tennis team, Bulnes is quickly becoming a very decorated student-athlete.  Earlier this year he was named to the KCAC’s First Team as well as being chosen as the conference Player of the Year and the ITA’s Player to Watch.  Bulnes has had a standout year for Mac with his 39-10 combined record including a 20-5 mark in singles.  He owns a Top 20 singles ranking and a Top 10 doubles ranking in the ITA NAIA College Tennis Rankings. 

The senior Bukatin definitely left his mark on McPherson tennis as he leaves as a four year KCAC First Team member, the 2011 KCAC Player of the year, a one-time NAIA National Player of the Week, two-time KCAC Scholar Athlete of the Year, two-time NAIA Scholar Athlete and two-time All-American.  This season, Bukatin posted a combined 28-21 record while playing the No. 1 doubles position and No. 2 singles.

“Both Slav and Rafa are very deserving of this recognition,” said head coach Jeff Benito.  “They competed well this season and endured a very tough scheduled and trying season.  I’m very proud of them both for their contribution to the team.”

For a complete list of the 2013 Tennis All-Americans, click here.