The Francis Marion University men's tennis team has been named the recipient of a Messick Sportsmanship Award for 2023.

Conference Carolinas unveiled its 2022-23 Spring Team Messick Sportsmanship Award winners this week, and FMU got the nod for men's tennis.

The Conference Carolinas Directors of Athletics implemented the process by which the Conference Carolinas Messick Sportsmanship Awards are determined. A student-athlete and coach from each institution vote separately upon the sportsmanship of all conference competitors. Each institution then submits those votes to the conference office where the averages are then calculated to decide the winner for each conference-sponsored sport.

The awards are named after John D. Messick, who was the President of former conference member East Carolina from 1947-59. Messick truly championed sportsmanship and even wrote a book entitled, "Personality and Character Development." 

Under the direction of second-year head coach Jay Evans, the Patriots posted a 13-8 record this past spring, won the Conference Carolinas regular-season championship, and advanced to the conference tournament championship match.  The Patriots also finished the regular season ranked in the ITA Top 50 poll.

The squad's roster was comprised of juniors Adam Ernberg, Leonel Gonzalez, and Liam Day; sophomores Martin Barbera, Harri Lloyd-Evans, Luis Lopez Sarasa, and Austin Vienna; and freshman Niklas Plath.