Wingate’s Brezovec, Presbyterian’s Rincon Receive 2005-06 South Atlantic Conference Presidents Awards

ROCK HILL, SC - An Academic All-American volleyball player and a highly-decorated men's tennis player have been named the 2005-06 South Atlantic Conference Presidents Award recipients, following a vote of the league's Faculty Athletics Representatives at the annual SAC Business Meetings in Asheville, N.C.

Junior volleyball player Rebecca Brezovec from Wingate University and senior men's tennis player Hector Rincon from Presbyterian College are this year's honorees.

The SAC Presidents Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards the conference awards to its student-athletes. It exemplifies the finest combined qualities of excellence in athletics, academics and community leadership. During the year, the South Atlantic Conference recognizes 14 Scholar-Athletes, representing each of the conference-sponsored sports. The top male and female SAC Scholar-Athletes from each represented member school are then nominated for the Presidents Award.

Brezovec, a junior middle blocker from Durham, N.C., was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® volleyball first team (college division). Brezovec has a 4.00 GPA in her Sociology major.

Brezovec was first team All-South Atlantic Conference and Daktronics All-South Region (second team) on the volleyball court. Also, she was honored as the SAC Scholar Athlete for volleyball.

In 103 games in 2005, Brezovec had 412 kills (4.00/game), 140 blocks (1.36/game) and a .330 hitting percentage. A junior middle blocker, Brezovec was second in the SAC in hitting percentage. The Riverside High School graduate was 15th in the NCAA Division II in blocks per game.

Brezovec's 4.00 GPA in Sociology has afforded her membership in the Phi Eta Sigma, Alpha Chi and Alpha Kappa Delta honor societies.

Brezovec is also active on the Wingate campus, serving as a student assistant and tutor for Sociology, a peer mentor to freshman students and a Wingate University Presidential Ambassador. She is part of the Leadership Fellows program, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Wingate Quality Enhancement Committee.

Rincon, a senior from London, England (Heathside Sixth Form), caps a impressive career with his selection. He was named to the first team 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District men's at-large team and is on the ballot for All-America honors. He compiled a 14-6 mark at No. 1 singles and a 17-1 mark at No. 1 doubles while being named SAC Player of the Year for this second time in his career (2004 & 2006) and earning first team All-SAC honors for the fourth straight year. In addition, he was named the 2006 Food Lion SAC Tournament MVP and finished the year ranked No. 14 regionally in singles and No. 5 in doubles.

In the classroom, he carries a cumulative GPA of 3.86 while double majoring in mathematics and business administration with a concentration in economics. He has been selected to the SAC Academic Honor for four straight years, while being named to the school's Dean's List (3.3 GPA) for four semesters and to the President's List (4.0 GPA) for four semesters. He was named the SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's tennis for the second straight year. He is a member of the Sigma Kappa Alpha Honor Society and has been accepted to the London School of Economics, Vanderbilt University, and Notre Dame University for graduate studies in economics. Rincon will start work on his PhD in economics at Duke University in the fall.

For his career, Rincon went undefeated in 4 years of league play in singles (20-0), earned SAC All-Tournament honors three times (2004-06), and was named the 2003 SAC Freshman of the Year.

In the community, Rincon serves as a math tutor for middle and high school students and is a member of the Presbyterian College Student-Athlete Advisory Council.

Brezovec and Rincon will be the South Atlantic Conference's nominations for the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.