VALDOSTA – Valdosta State junior men’s tennis standout Luca Mack earned the prestigious honor of being awarded the Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced Tuesday.
“To find the words in congratulating Luca Mack for the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award is easy,” VSU head men’s tennis coach John Hansen said. “He epitomizes the very meaning and principles of what Arthur Ashe stood for. The character of this year’s Blazer tennis team was built around Luca, as he is one of those people who leads just by being there. Not only is he a great player, but his leadership is a tremendous inspiration to the entire team, especially to his younger teammates in all aspects of their collegiate careers.”
The award recognizes outstanding student-athletes in all five divisions (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and JUCO) at the regional and national level. This prestigious award, which dates back to 1982, is presented to the men’s and women’s national student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements.
Mack becomes the second Blazer to earn this national honor as former Blazer Eduardo Rincon was awarded in 2004. A native of Emmendingen, Germany, Mack had an outstanding season for the Blazers in 2022-23 as he began the season finishing national runner-up at the ITA Fall National Championship in singles.
This season, Mack was named Gulf South Conference Men’s Tennis Champion Scholar-Athlete, GSC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year and VSU Male Athlete of the Year. He earned GSC Top Ten honors and was a finalist for the Commissioner’s Trophy, which is the highest individual honor the GSC bestows. Mack helped lead VSU to a 21-1 record, a Gulf South Conference regular season, league tournament title and a national semifinal finish.
Mack finished the season 25-2 in singles and is No. 2 nationally in the latest ITA rankings, while he and junior teammate Rodrigo Carvalho went 20-1 in doubles and are third nationally. Both Mack and Carvalho earned ITA All-America honors a season ago and are in line for All-America accolades this season. Last season, Mack was 20-6 in singles and 19-10 in doubles as he and Carvalho finished the season No. 1 nationally with a 16-5 record together.
In 2021, Mack went 10-4 in singles and 7-1 in GSC play, while he was 9-6 in doubles and 6-2 in conference play.
Mack earned GSC Academic Honor Roll accolades each year, along with Academic All-GSC in 2022.
He is 55-12 all-time in singles for the Blazers and 23-3 in GSC play, while he is 49-18 in doubles and 21-5 in league play.
“It is not often to coach a player who is a two-time All-America selection in both singles and doubles, who is the conference player of the year, conference academic player of the year, an Academic All-American and who is the Athlete of the Year for all sports at Valdosta State University,” Hansen added. “On top of all of that, he is a great guy to know and is a great representative for the ITA, the NCAA and Valdosta State University.”