BETHLEHEM, Pa. –– Navy men's tennis player
Derrick Thompson (Sr., Towson, Md.), who last week was named the 2022 Patriot League Player of the Year, was announced Monday as the league's scholar-athlete of the year for his sport.
Thompson joins Navy's
Andrew Ton as the only men's tennis players to have earned all of the major individual awards presented by the Patriot League at least once in a career: rookie of the year (2019), player of the year (2022), tournament MVP (2019, '22) and scholar-athlete of the year (2022).
Thompson entered exam week at Navy carrying a 3.76 cumulative grade-point average as a mechanical engineering major. He had received academic honors from the USNA in each of his seven completed semesters.
On the court, Thompson earned the third first-team all-league accolade of his career this season in addition to his first player-of-the-year nod. He posted a 21-10 record in singles and a 23-11 record in doubles this season. In dual matches, Thompson compiled records of 15-5 in singles (all at No. 1) and 17-6 in doubles (14-5 at No. 1).
Thompson concluded his career with an overall record of 78-21 in singles –– 55-10 in dual matches, including 20-1 in Patriot League matches –– and 77-29 in doubles –– 50-18 in dual matches, including 18-4 in Patriot League matches.
Navy earned three Patriot League Tournament titles in Thompson's four years (no tournament was held in 2020) and made three trips to the NCAA Tournament. This year, Thompson and
Sasha Panyan (So., Lutherville, Md.) defeated North Carolina's 16th-ranked doubles team of Brian Cernoch and Mac Kiger, 6-3, to help the Mids win the doubles point against the Tar Heels. It was the first point scored by a Patriot League team in the NCAA Tournament since Navy's Mitch Koch won his singles match during the 1999 tournament.
Thompson is the seventh Mid to be named the league's scholar-athlete of the year for the sport (10 awards in all).
2022 Patriot League Men's Tennis Academic All-Patriot League Team
Michael Owen, Bucknell, Jr.
Zack Elliott, Lehigh, Sr.
Michael Bukhalo, Lehigh, Jr.
Edik Pribitkin, Loyola Maryland, Sr.
Matt Cardano, Loyola Maryland, So.
Derrick Thompson, Navy, Sr. -- Scholar-Athlete of the Year
