CLEVELAND – Sophomore Jannik Opitz of the Western Michigan men's tennis team was tagged a Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athlete for the 2017-18 academic season. Opitz, who is in his first year of eligibility for the award, represents the Broncos amongst five other conference men's tennis players.

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The Distinguished Scholar Athlete is a four-year award given to students who have excelled in athletics and academics. Following each season from the spring sports schedule, any student with a 3.20 GPA and participation in at least 50 percent of the contests was automatically named to the previously announced Academic All-MAC Team from each sport. Also, first-year students, junior college and graduate school transfers in their first year of residence were not eligible for the award.

Opitz was named All-MAC First Team with a 30-10 overall singles record and a 19-5 spring record and rode a team-high 12-match winning streak prior to the NCAA Tournament. Opitz played primarily at No. 2 and No. 3 singles for the Broncos during the season and posted an impressive 7-0 record at No. 2 against MAC opponents. He also played at one, two and three doubles with a 15-7 overall record and was named Tournament MVP after serving as the match-clincher against Buffalo at two in the championship match. During the season, Opitz also garnered two MAC weekly honors.

A native from Hildesheim, Germany finished his sophomore year with an impressive 4.00 cumulative grade-point average in pre-business. Opitz was one of 13 MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes from WMU in the spring sports.