DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team earned four ITA Mountain Regional awards for the 2023-24 season, the ITA announced on Wednesday.
 
Senior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year in the region while sophomore Raffaello Papajcik collected its ITA Most Improve Player nod. Denver swept the region's coaching honors with head coach Drew Eberly being named the Wilson ITA Coach of the Year, and assistant coach Will Davies earning ITA Assistant Coach of the Year recognition.
 
In total, DU accounted for more than half of the Mountain Regional honors.
 
Herrero Cuesta, the back-to-back Summit League Player of the Year, played at No. 1 singles and doubles for the majority of the 2023-24 season for Denver, logging a 22-6 overall record in singles and 14-6 in doubles. During the season, he earned a win over then-No. 41 Sam Sippel from Boise State and led Michigan State's Ozan Baris – who finished the year ranked No. 5 in the country – by a set to none in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
 
This is the first ITA athletic award of Herrero Cuesta's career. He was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete in 2023.
 
Papajcik saw marked improvement from his first collegiate season in 2022-23 to his sophomore campaign in 2023-24. After holding a 12-11 singles record last season, he finished 20-4 this year. In doubles, he also improved from 13-8 a season ago to 21-9 in 2023-24. The London, England, native moved to Nos. 4 and 5 singles in 2024 after playing at No. 6 singles in 2023, and he earned the first All-Summit League Team nod of his career.
 
This is the first ITA award of Papajcik's career.
 
Eberly and Davies helped lead Denver to a perfect 23-0 record entering the NCAA tournament – becoming the first Division I men's team to do so since Virginia in 2013. Denver's program-record 23 wins marked the first time that DU hit the 20+ win mark in a single season. DU posted a perfect 8-0 record against fellow ITA Mountain Regional teams and added five more wins against Summit League teams on its way to its sixth league tournament title and fifth-straight regular-season crown.
 
In February, DU entered the ITA national rankings at No. 28, the highest ranking for the DU men's team since 2010, and finished the year ranked No. 44 nationally, the second-highest final ITA ranking in program history.
 
This is the first ITA head coaching award of Eberly's career after earning the regional ITA Assistant Coach of the Year honor in 2016. This is the first ITA coaching award of Davies' career.
 
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