Biography
2009-10: Became just the third player in Horizon League history to win back-to-back Player of the Year awards after going 30-4 on the year and a perfect 7-0 in the conference…Six of his seven wins in the conference were sweeps…Also named Team MVP and took home the Titan 2009 Newcomer award at the annual UDM President’s Athletic and Academic Honors Luncheon…Tabbed first team All-Horizon League…Tallied 29 straight set sweeps in his 30 singles victories…Won his last eight matches, including a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Nick Camilleri of Wright State in the first round of the conference championships…Named the HL Player of the week on Jan. 26 after he won both of his singles and doubles matches at the No. 1 position in dominating fashion…He started that week teaming with freshman Chris Cheung for an 8-3 victory over the IPFW’s Felipe Gama and Francisco Sigaud and came back in individual play with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Francisco Sigaud to help the Titans to their first win of the season…He then played with freshman Alex Latosinsky for an 8-2 win over Western Michigan’s Kazuya Komada and Zeyad Montasser and swept Komada, 6-1, 6-4, in singles…On the year in doubles, he posted another 21 wins and was part one of the best HL runs in conference history in reaching the quarter-finals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships, where he and freshman Alex Latosinsky defeated Wisconsin’s Michael Dierberger and Patrick Pohlmann, who were seeded 12th in the tournament…In the fall, he won two top singles flight titles and received a bid to the main draws of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships…Defeated Alasdair Graetz of DePaul, 7-5,6-1, in the first round of the tournament before falling to 77th-ranked Matt Allare of Ohio State 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)...A member of SAAC, the UDM AD’s Honor Roll as well as the HL’s Fall Academic Honor Roll.
2008-09: Named the Horizon League’s Player and Newcomer of the Year becoming the first men’s tennis player in league history to win both honors in the same season…Posted 38 total wins on the season with a 25-4 record, including a perfect 7-0 mark in the conference, all at No. 1 singles…The 25 victories are the most for a Titan since 1978 and are believed to be the most in school history with records from the 1921-58 still being sorted out…Also tied for the team lead with 13 doubles wins, all from the No. 1 post…Was honored five times as the Horizon League Player of the Week with two accolades in the fall and three in the spring…In his seven conference singles victories, six were by two-set sweeps with the only one going the distance a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-4 triumph against Cleveland State’s Phil Orno, the 2008 HL Player of the Year…Ended the year with 10 straight singles wins… Only four singles losses came against Ohio State, Michigan State, WMU, and Ball State, with three of those matches going to a third set…Dominated the fall season going 13-1 with three singles flight titles, earning a selection into Sports Illustrated’s “Faces In The Crowd” section in its Nov.1 issue...Did not drop a set while winning his first 13 matches of the year...Captured the No. 1 singles flight championship with a 4-0 mark at the Detroit Titan Fall Invitational...Came back the next week with a perfect 4-0 record, with all the wins coming against Horizon League opponents, and the Flight A title at the Valpo Fall Classic... Cruised to another Flight A singles title at the 30th Annual Ball State Fall Invitational by going 5-0...Also teamed with freshman Dustin Goldenberg to reach the Flight A doubles finals, upsetting Purdue’s No. 1 doubles team and the No. 1 seeded team in the tournament, 9-8 (9) in the first round... Selected for participation in 2008 ITA Midwest Regional in both singles and doubles…Ended the fall campaign by teaming with Goldenberg to knock out Louisville’s tandem of Adam Donaldson and Tim Barnoud, 9-8 (4), in the first round of the ITA Midwest Regional…A member of the AD honor roll as well as involved with UDM’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Prior to Detroit: Played two years of varsity tennis at Mississippi State, posting a 14-28 singles record and a 26-34 doubles tally… As a freshman, his 16 overall doubles victories tied him for first on the team…He ranked 28th in doubles with Bulldogs’ teammate Artem Kuznetsov entering the spring season…They went on to defeat the nation’s 19th ranked team on their way to the Round of 16 at the ITA Southeast Regionals...In doubles, he claimed six victories at the No. 2 position, including three in SEC play…Had a stellar prep career while attending Rigas Herdera Vidusskola ... Won the 2005 men’s doubles Latvian National Championship followed by a runner-up finish in singles at the 2006 Latvian National Championships ... Ranked 187 in the International Tennis Federation Junior Rankings ... Placed second on the European Club Championships which concluded in 2007.
Personal: The son of Andrejs and Vera Necajeva...Hobbies include playing soccer and traveling...Lists Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras as his favorite tennis players...A business major at UDM.
