IntercoUniversity of Minnesota senior men's tennis player Avery Ticer (Amarillo, Texas) has been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)/Ted Farnsworth Senior Player of the Year for the Midwest Region. He was also named a nominee for the ITA/John Van Nostrand Memorial Award - a stipend that goes to an outstanding senior men's player who plans to pursue a professional career after college. The national award winners will be announced on May 25 in College Station, Texas.

Ticer will compete at the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles Championships on May 25-30 at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. A 2005 All- Big Ten selection, he is currently ranked 31st in the nation.

Minnesota's first-ever three-year captain, Ticer has played all of his matches at No. 1 singles, compiling a 14-4 dual record and a 6-1 mark in Big Ten matches. A native of Amarillo, Texas, Ticer began the season with a semifinal appearance at the 2004 Big Ten Singles Championship before storming out of the gates in the dual season to vault up the national rankings. Ranked 105th in singles to start the year, Ticer rose to as high as No. 25 after posting a 7-4 record vs. ranked opponents with wins over Nos. 10, 25, 34, 46, 80 and 81.