FLORENCE, S.C. | Young Harris College's Raul Quevedo has been named the Peach Belt Conference Elite 15 Award winner for men's tennis.

The PBC Elite 15 Award, which is sponsored by EAB, is presented in each of the league's 15 championship sports to the student-athlete participating in the tournament with the highest cumulative grade point average.  Modeled after the NCAA Elite 90 Award, this season is the fifth year the PBC has presented the honor.

Quevedo, a senior from Barcelona, Spain, currently has 3.99 GPA as a business and public policy major (economics concentration). Quevedo is the first Mountain Lion to receive the award this season. He is also the first YHC men's tennis student-athlete and the seventh overall in the history to receive the honor, joining Jeanie Perrucci (softball, 2016), Tim Mohlin Torringer (men's soccer, 2015), Sydnee Weaver (softball, 2015), Ilija Ilic (men's soccer, 2013), Nicole Smith (women's cross country, 2013) and Wezley Barnard (men's soccer, 2012).  

Quevedo holds the record for most wins in singles (56) and doubles (63) in the program's NCAA era.

Quevedo was one of four players from Young Harris to be named to the Peach Belt Men's Tennis All-Academic Team. The others were Jan-Niklas Graetz, Alex Pavel and Daniel Tiboldi.  This is third selection for Quevedo and the second for Tiboldi.

The team is part of a season-long program recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of PBC student-athletes in the classroom as well as on the field. To be eligible for the All-Academic team, a student-athlete must participate in at least half of his team's events and be either a starter or significant contributor; achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and completed at least one full academic year at his or her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility. 

Graetz, who is a sophomore from Munich, Germany, has a 3.96 GPA as an interdisciplinary studies major. Graetz has picked up nine wins - four singles and five in doubles - this season for the Mountain Lions.

Pavel, a junior from Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec, Canada, has a 3.42 GPA as a business and public policy major (economics concentration). Pavel has teamed up with Quevedo at No. 1 doubles for the Mountain Lions and came away with 15 wins. He's also picked up six singles victories,

Tiboldi, a senior from London, England, has a 3.47 GPA as a biology major. Tiboldi is currently fourth on the all-time list with 33 singles wins and sixth in doubles with 26 victories. 

Young Harris (10-11) will return to action Friday (April 21) at the 2017 Peach Belt Conference Tournament in Florence, South Carolina. The No. 8 seeded Mountain Lions will take on top seed and No. 7 Columbus State University in a 1 p.m. quarterfinal match at the Dr. Eddie Floyd Florence Tennis Center.