By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Andre Lief (Jr., Anchorage, AK/West Anchorage HS) and Quentin Nigbur (Sr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) from Willamette University have been named to the 2023-24 NCAA Division III Academic All-District Men's Tennis Team, as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC). Lief and Nigbur were both chosen Academic All-District for the second year in a row.
A panel of CSC members will determine which Academic All-District honorees are eligible to be voted onto the NCAA Division III Academic All-America Men's Tennis Team. The Academic All-America Team will be released on Wednesday, June 5. Players nominated for the CSC All-District Team were starters or key reserves with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. They played in at least 70% of their team's matches. Each nominated student-athlete was at least a sophomore in academic and athletic standing.
The Willamette men's tennis team was led by Director of Tennis Tyler Linscott in his second season with the Bearcats. Willamette ended 2023-24 with a 0-15 overall record and a 0-7 record in the Northwest Conference. The Bearcats won at least two matches in seven dual meets. The Bearcats were narrowly defeated by McMurry University (Texas), 5-4, in a dual meet that included four matches decided in tie-breakers.
NCAA Division III Academic All-District
Andre Lief (Jr.) competed in 14 of the team's 15 dual matches this season, as he played in 12 singles matches and 14 doubles matches. His singles matches included five competitions at #5 singles and seven matches at #6 singles. In doubles, he played in 11 matches at #3 and in three matches at #2. A year ago in 2023-23, he played in 12 singles matches and 13 doubles matches as part of the dual meet season. He played eight matches at #6 singles and competed in all 13 of his doubles matches at the #3 position. He played eight matches at #3 singles in 2021-22.
During his career at Willamette, Lief has participated in 35 singles matches and 37 doubles matches for the Bearcats. He owned a 3.87 cumulative GPA through the 2023 fall semester. He is majoring in Economics with a minor in Spanish. He was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma, a national student-athlete honorary society, in 2024.
Quentin Nigbur (Sr.) played in all 15 of Willamette's dual meets this season, including 15 singles matches and 15 doubles matches. He saw action at #2 singles seven times and competed at #3 singles eight times. He saw action at #1 doubles in 13 of the 15 dual meets, and played one match each at #2 and #3 doubles. He was 5-10 in doubles matches, with three of the losses in tie-breakers played instead of a third set.
In 2022-23, Nigbur competed in singles and doubles in all 13 of the Bearcats' dual meets. Eleven of his singles matches were at the #3 position, while eight of his doubles matches were at the #2 position.
At Willamette, Nigbur has been involved in 54 singles matches and 55 doubles matches in dual meets for the Bearcats. In singles action, 33 of his matches have been at the #3 position. He has competed in 23 matches at #2 doubles and in 31 matches at #1 doubles.
At the end of the fall semester, Nigbur held a 3.59 cumulative GPA as an undergraduate at Willamette, while achieving a 3.87 GPA as a graduate student. He graduated from Willamette with a bachelors' degree in Economics in 2023 and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Willamette's Atkinson Graduate School of Management in 2024. Nigbur completed the 3+2 BA/MBA program. In 2022, he was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma, a national student-athlete honorary society.
