DENVER - Idaho's Marius Cirstea and Louisiana Tech's Alexandra Starkova have been named the Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for the week of Mar. 11-17.
Cirstea, a senior from Bucharest, Romania (Texas Christian), went 2-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles as the Vandals won a pair of matches in Hawai'i against Liberty and Hawai'i during the week. Cirstea picked up a tough 7-6(8), 6-4 win at No. 2 against Liberty, and won 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 against Hawai'i, as the Vandals improved to 15-1 on the season.
A freshman from Madrid, Spain (IES Ortega y Gasset), Starkova remained undefeated on the season in singles (3-0) and doubles (3-0) after this past week. She dispatched of Grambling State's Oluwatomisin Kassim, 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 1 singles spot. On Thursday, playing in the No. 2 singles, Starkova clinched the Lady Techsters' 4-3 win with 6-2, 5-7-, 7-5 victory over Northwestern State's Tatiana Larina. Strakova teamed up with partner Joanna Nalborska to play to a pair of victories at the No. 2 doubles position.
Also nominated for the men: New Mexico State, Daniel Fernandez; UTSA, David Kelleher.
Also nominated for the women: Idaho, Almudena Sanz; New Mexico State, Ros-Polly Nguyen