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Saint Joseph, Michigan, junior honored for first time this year, seventh career
EASTON, Mass. (April 4, 2017) – Stonehill College junior co-captain Thomas Bellio (Saint Joseph, Michigan/Saint Joseph) has been named the Northeast-10 Conference's men's tennis Player of the Week, the league office announced today.
Bellio earns the weekly award for the first time this season and seventh over his career after posting a combined 3-1 mark in a 1-1 week for Stonehill against a pair of regionally-ranked teams. He won both of his matches at No. 1 singles, posting a three-set win over Merrimack College's top player, Mikhail Belov (7-5, 3-6, 11-9), and then leading the Skyhawks to a 5-4 win over region No. 7 Bentley University on Saturday with a two-set sweep (6-4, 6-1) over Brendan McCarthy, the 20th-ranked singles player in the region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Bellio also combined with junior Nikolay Lisichenok (Danvers, Massachusetts/Danvers) to split their two matches at No. 1 doubles, picking up an 8-4 decision against Bentley's top pairing.
Bellio is a combined 14-8 in singles and doubles play this season, with a 10-3 mark in doubles play with two different playing partners. He and Lisichenok are 9-3 overall, including a 6-2 record at No. 1 in dual match play. The duo combined to win the A-Doubles bracket of the Stonehill Doubles Invitational back in September. Bellio sports a 4-5 singles record, but is 3-0 in NE10 play after his two wins last week.
Bellio, a three-time NE10 Player of the Week over his freshman and sophomore seasons, has posted a career combined singles and doubles record of 64-42 (.604) at Stonehill, including a combined 24-15 (.615) in NE10 play. He is 25-21 over his three seasons in singles play, including a 13-7 NE10 mark, to go with a 39-21 career doubles record, including 11-8 in the NE10.
Bellio earned CoSIDA Academic All-District I At Large first team honors as well as a spot on the NE10 Academic All-Conference team as a sophomore for his efforts on the courts as well as in the classroom. He and former doubles partner, junior co-captain Tom Buckley (Hebron, Connecticut/RHAM) won the A-Doubles bracket at the 2015 Stonehill Doubles Invitational, while also advancing to the finals of the B-Doubles bracket at the 2015 ITA East Regional. Bellio has been named to the NE10 Commissioners Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all five semesters at the College. He earned NE10 All-Rookie Team status as a freshman as he and Lisichenok earned All-NE10 second team honors at No. 1 doubles.
Stonehill (4-5, 2-1 NE10) is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Southern New Hampshire University, ranked No. 4 in the most recent Oracle/ITA East Regional rankings, at Charles Watt Tennis Courts at 3 p.m. The match was scheduled to be hosted by Southern New Hampshire, but has been moved to Stonehill due to court conditions in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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