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Jun 14, 2006: Virginia Wesleyan's Caudill Earns First-team ESPN Academic All-America Honors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WALTHAM, Mass. - Eric Caudill's record-setting efforts on the tennis court for Virginia Wesleyan College has extended to the academic realm as well.

Caudill (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America At-Large first team, giving Virginia Wesleyan two first-team honorees for the first time ever. Baseball standout Brent Vuyovich (Kitty Hawk, N.C./Manteo) received first-team recognition earlier.

Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America selected the 15-member first team, which included student-athletes who competed in tennis, swimming, lacrosse, ice hockey and wrestling. The honorees represented Division II and Division III schools in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. Overall, 48 student-athletes were named to three At-Large teams, acknowledging standout efforts in athletics and academics this past year.

Virginia Wesleyan student-athletes have received nine CoSIDA Academic All-America honors since 1979, including eight since the 2000-01 season. Caudill is the second Marlin tennis player honored, following the lead of three-time first-team honoree John Tomasheski, now in the School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina.

Caudill was the only sophomore to earn first-team status and was one of only two to receive the Academic All-America At-Large award. He compiled a 4.00 grade point accume, on a 4.00 scale, as a Liberal Arts Management Program major. He was one of five honorees on the first team to record a 4.00.

On the court, Caudill swiftly emerged as one of the best to play the game for Virginia Wesleyan, as he rolled to a 23-3 overall singles record and was part of a 21-2 doubles team with rising senior Jeff Zenisek (Jacksonville, Fla./Bartram Trail). The duo became Vvirginia Wesleyan's first to win an Old Dominion Athletic Conference flight championship, taking the No. 1 flight title over nationally-ranked Washington and Lee University. It ended W&L's 10-year streak of doubles sweeps in the ODAC tournament and a 14-year victory streak at No. 1 doubles for the Generals, who won the flight 26 times in the 30-year history of the tournament.

Caudill and Zenisek set Virginia Wesleyan's record for doubles victories in a season, becoming the first duo to record 20+ wins. They also set the flight record at No. 1 with a 20-1 finish. Their victory in the ODAC tournament was the first doubles win for VWC in tournament play since 1983 when the Marlins' Chip Friedman and Tony Benjumea won the No. 2 flight in the former Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

While he helped to set records in doubles, he was also a record-setter alone. He produced an outstanding 23-3 singles record that included a 21-1 dual match mark, an 18-1 flight record at No. 2 and a 10-1 showing against ODAC opponents. His 18-1 flight record set a VWC standard at that position and his 23 wins rank No. 2 in Marlin history. All-American Bobby Fox won 29 matches in 1994. Caudill is only the second Marlin player in VWC history to record 20+ singles wins.

Overall, Caudill's impressive efforts helped Virginia Wesleyan to a 17-2 season finish, the best in program history. The Marlins were 5-2 in ODAC play during the regular season and placed third in the post-season tournament. The team returns intact for the 2006-07 season.

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