TOLEDO, Ohio – Pawit Sornlaksup continues to bring national attention to the Toledo men's tennis program as he became the first Rocket ever to receive the 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award for the Midwest Region, it was announced by the ITA earlier this week.

Established in 1969, the Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award is the longest-running award in the league and honors the life and legacy of one of the greatest collegiate tennis players. Osuna played at the University of Southern California and is the only player in history to be ranked No. 1 worldwide while on a college tennis roster.

Each year, the award honors one Division I men's tennis student-athlete who demonstrated many of Osuna's game's key tenets, including sportsmanship, character, academic achievement, and outstanding tennis accomplishments.

Three-time Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, Sornlaksup achieved a personal goal and became the first Rocket to compete as an individual at the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships as an individual. Once again, the Rayong, Thailand native clinched match point for Toledo over Western Michigan for the MAC Championship Tournament crown, and punched the Midnight Blue & Gold's ticket into the NCAA Tournament for back-to-back seasons. Sornlaksup earned a First-Team All-MAC and MAC All-Tournament selection for the third year in a row, was named 2024 MAC Tournament MVP, and was recently awarded the 2024 MAC Medal of Excellence.

Sornlaksup reached a career-high No. 60 singles ranking on March 19 and ended his career as the No. 69 singles player in the country. His three-year career included a program-best 45-match winning streak from January 2022 to January 2024 and an impressive 27-1 dual record against MAC opponents from the No. 1 court.

Sornlaksup was a three-time Academic All-MAC and two-time CSC Academic All-District team selection and graduated from the University of Toledo last month with a degree in information systems.

2024 ITA Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award Winners
Atlantic Region – Ryan Fishback, Virginia
Carolina Region – Luca Staeheli, NC State 
Central Region – Nathan Han, Oklahoma
Midwest Region – Pawit Sornlaksup, Toledo
Mountain Region – Nicholas Vroman, Air Force
New England Region – Logan Chang, Dartmouth
Northeast Region – Hugo Hashimoto, Columbia
Northwest Region – Han Chih Lin, Washington
Ohio Valley Region – Taha Baadi, Kentucky
Southeast Region – Andres Martin, Georgia Tech
Southern Region – Filip Plainsek, Alabama
Southwest Region – Iiro Vasa, San Diego
Texas Region – Louis Bowden, Baylor