MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) has announced its major award winners and all-conference team for the 2026 men's tennis season.
Illinois Institute of Technology's
Tanay Sharma was named both NACC Player of the Year and NACC Freshman of the Year, while St. Norbert College was recognized as the NACC Coaching Staff of the Year.
NACC Player of the Year / NACC Freshman of the Year --- Tanay Sharma, Illinois Institute of Technology
Sharma has posted a 24-5 record overall heading into the Friday's NACC Tournament semifinal matchup with Concordia University Wisconsin.
Sharma started the year at the No. 2 spot in singles for Illinois Tech, dropping his first collegiate match in a tiebreaker to Lake Forest's Bernardo Aguiar before rattling off five straight wins. He was elevated to the No. 1 position in the lineup in mid-March, after which he posted a 6-1 mark, including a 5-0 record in NACC play. His lone loss at No. 1 came to Tyler Schneider of UW-La Crosse. Nine of his 11 wins overall came in straight sets.
In doubles, Sharma has paired with
Alexander Feher at the No. 1 spot all season long, posting a 13-3 mark overall and a 4-2 record against NACC competition. Of the tandem's three losses, two came in tiebreakers. Sharma and Feher have the most wins of any doubles tandem in the NACC this season.
Sharma - a three-time NACC Student-Athlete of the Week this spring - is the first NACC men's tennis student-athlete to capture Player and Freshman of the Year honors in the same year. He is also the fourth Illinois Tech student-athlete to be named NACC Player of the Year and the third to earn NACC Freshman of the Year honors
NACC Coaching Staff of the Year --- St. Norbert College (John Steckart, head coach)
St. Norbert finished third in the conference with a 4-2 mark and takes a 9-12 record overall into Friday's NACC Tournament semifinal match against Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Green Knights surrendered just one team point in their four NACC wins and swept doubles to capture the doubles point in a regular-season loss to MSOE. St. Norbert also came close to capturing the doubles point against league champion Illinois Tech.
Brett Daniels and
Charlie Keller defeated Sharma and Feher, 7-6, at the No. 1 position but the Green Knights dropped a tiebreaker at No. 2 and fell, 6-4, at No. 3.
St. Norbert is led by fifth-year head coach
John Steckart and assisted by
J.V. Steckart.
This is the first time St. Norbert has been recognized as the NACC Men's Tennis Coaching Staff of the Year. Steckart and the Green Knights staff also earned NACC Women's Tennis Coaching Staff of the Year honors last fall.
All-Conference Team Announced
League champion Illinois Tech secured four all-conference singles honors and had two doubles tandems recognized. MSOE was next with three singles players and two doubles tandems honored, while Concordia Wisconsin and St. Norbert both had two singles players and one doubles tandem selected. The final all-conference singles honor went to Edgewood's
Ryder Broadbridge.
A total of eight student-athletes were recognized for play in both singles and doubles - Concordia Wisconsin's
Hayden Latus and
Murilo Zeni, Illinois Tech's Sharma, Feher, and
Pedro Caro-Accino Roca, MSOE's
Randy Funez and
Miguel Lopez, and St. Norbert's Daniels.
| 2026 All-NACC Men's Tennis Team |
| Player of the Year - Tanay Sharma, Illinois Tech |
| Freshman of the Year - Tanay Sharma, Illinois Tech |
| Coaching Staff of the Year - St. Norbert College (John Steckart, head coach) |
|
|
|
|
| Singles |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| Hayden Latus |
So. |
Concordia Wisconsin |
Waukesha, Wis. |
| Murilo Zeni |
Fr. |
Concordia Wisconsin |
Curitiba, Brazil |
| Ryder Broadbridge |
So. |
Edgewood |
Verona, Wis. |
| Pol Dueso Guell |
Jr. |
Illinois Tech |
Barcelona, Spain |
| Alexander Feher |
So. |
Illinois Tech |
Budapest, Hungary |
| Pedro Caro-Accino Roca |
Sr. |
Illinois Tech |
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain |
| Tanay Sharma |
Fr. |
Illinois Tech |
Ahmedabad, India |
| Augusto Eiji Yamazaki |
So. |
MSOE |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Randy Funez |
Jr. |
MSOE |
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic |
| Miguel Lopez |
Sr. |
MSOE |
Cortez, Honduras |
| Brett Daniels |
Sr. |
St. Norbert |
De Pere, Wis. |
| Jackson Harpt |
Sr. |
St. Norbert |
De Pere, Wis. |
| Doubles |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| Hayden Latus |
So. |
Concordia Wisconsin |
Waukesha, Wis. |
| Murilo Zeni |
Fr. |
Curitiba, Brazil |
| Tanay Sharma |
Fr. |
Illinois Tech |
Ahmedabad, India |
| Alexander Feher |
So. |
Budapest, Hungary |
| Pedro Caro-Accino Roca |
Sr. |
Illinois Tech |
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain |
| Hozumi Tada |
So. |
Sakura, Japan |
| Randy Funez |
Jr. |
MSOE |
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic |
| Carlos Lopez |
So. |
Choloma, Honduras |
| Miguel Lopez |
Sr. |
MSOE |
Cortez, Honduras |
| Clark Rue |
Sr. |
Omaha, Neb. |
| Brett Daniels |
Sr. |
St. Norbert |
De Pere, Wis. |
| Charlie Keller |
So. |
Wauwatosa, Wis. |