SAN DIEGO – San Diego men's tennis took home two Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Region awards, as the ITA announced Tuesday Oliver Tarvet as region Senior Player of the Year and Manvydas Balciunas as region Rookie of the Year.
 
San Diego finished the season ranked No. 17 nationally, the No. 1 mid-major and No. 2 in the Southwest region, which covers all of California and Arizona. USD is one of two teams that had two players earn recognition out of the region's eight awards. A Torero has now grabbed at least one ITA Southwest regional award in each of the last five seasons.
 
ITA Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year – Oliver Tarvet
Tarvet is the second Torero to ever merit Senior Player of the Year, joining the elite company of August Holmgren (2022). The St. Albans, England native garnered a fourth career ITA All-American honor after finishing the season ranked No. 15 nationally in singles. He was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year for a third straight year, the first Torero to ever collect the title three times. Tarvet was also selected to the All-WCC First Team in both singles and doubles.
 
After bypassing the fall season for professional opportunities, Tarvet returned to campus for the spring dual season and posted a 21-2 singles record on main court, his second straight season with a win percentage of .913 or better (also .926 in 2025) and third best in program history. The 21 wins brought him to a grand total of 90 in his collegiate career at USD (90-22; .804). He also went 17-2 in doubles across the dual season, the second best single-season win percentage (.895) of his career and third best in the program record books. The 17 wins set him at 74-18 (.804) for his career as a Torero.
 
Tarvet ended the season on an 18-match singles unbeaten streak between March 1 and May 8, the 15 wins all being in straight sets and went 7-2 in ranked singles matches, three of the wins coming against top-10 opponents: 6-4, 6-3 vs. No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny (at No. 1 Texas, May 8), 6-2, 6-3 vs. No. 8 Michael Zheng (No. 28 Columbia, March 21) and 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 vs. No. 8 Devin Badenhorst (No. 16 Baylor, Jan. 13).
 
ITA Southwest Region Rookie of the Year – Manvydas Balciunas
Balciunas becomes just the third Torero ever to garner the region Rookie of the Year title, joining Oliver Tarvet (2023) and Uros Petronijevic (2013). In his first year of collegiate tennis, the Almere, Netherlands native was also named West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, earning All-WCC First Team in singles and All-WCC Honorable Mention in doubles.
 
He went 14-5 in singles in his debut season of college tennis, 7-1 at the No. 2 spot for the Toreros. In doubles action he went 16-6, 12-4 with fellow Dutchman Stian Klaassen. Ranked as high as No. 83 nationally in singles, finishing the season as ITA No. 103.
 
In his college debut, he knocked off national No. 44 in straight sets to help the Toreros to a 5-2 season-opening win over No. 16 Baylor on Jan. 13. He also posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over national No. 31 at No. 2 singles in aid of a 6-1 win over 28th-ranked Columbia on March 21.