SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 31
New Mexico State at UNLV, 10:00 a.m. PT
Creighton at Kansas City, 3:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, Feb. 1
Oral Roberts at Texas-Pan American, 10:00 a.m. CT
New Mexico State vs. UC Riverside (Las Vegas, Nev.), 10:00 a.m. PT
Idaho vs. Fresno State (Eugene, Ore.), 1:00 p.m. PT
Prairie View at Texas-Pan American, 3:00 CT
New Mexico State vs. Southern Miss (Las Vegas, Nev.), 3:00 p.m. MT
George Fox at Seattle U, 5:00 p.m. PT
Sunday, Feb. 2
Eastern Illinois at Chicago State, 9:00 a.m. CT
Idaho at Portland State, 10:00 a.m. PT
New Mexico State vs. Weber State (Las Vegas, Nev.), 10:00 a.m. PT
Tuesday, Feb. 4
Kansas City at Iowa, 1:30 p.m. CT
RESULTS
Thursday Jan. 23
Texas A&M Corpus Christi def. New Mexico State, 4-0
Eastern Washington def. Seattle U, 4-3
Friday, Jan. 24
Kansas City def. Baker, 7-0
UMBC at Texas-Pan American, PPD-Weather
Seattle U def. Lewis-Clark State College, 4-3
Northern Illinois def. Chicago State, 6-1
Saturday, Jan. 25
Grand Canyon def. Abilene Christian, 4-3
IPFW def. Chicago State, 7-0
Idaho def. Seattle U, 5-2
New Mexico State def. Utah State, 4-3
Louisiana-Lafayette def. Texas-Pan American, 6-1
Idaho def. Eastern Washington, 7-0
Sunday, Jan. 26
Gonzaga def. Seattle U, 5-2
Air Force def. Grand Canyon, 6-1
TEAM RECAPS
CHICAGO STATE
Chicago State lost twice on the road last week, falling to Northern Illinois, 6-1, and IPFW, 7-0 ... junior Sergiu Muresan defeated Axel Lagerlof 4-6, 6-3 (10-2) at No. 1 singles to pick up a point for the Cougars against Northern Illinois ... this week, the Cougars only have one match, hosting Eastern Illinois ... the dual will be the first at home for the Cougars this season.
GRAND CANYON
The Grand Canyon University men’s tennis team picked up a win in its first-ever Division I competition, downing Abilene Christian, 4-3, in Colorado Springs on Jan. 25…the Antelopes picked up wins in No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 singles, and No. 1 and No. 3 doubles…the next day, GCU dropped a 6-1 match to Air Force…the ‘Lopes will be back in action on Feb. 14 when they travel to UC Riverside, and will face Loyola Marymount the following day in Los Angeles.
IDAHO
Idaho opened the 2014 portion of its schedule last weekend, defeating both Seattle U (5-2) and Eastern Washington (7-0) ... senior Jose Bendeck went a perfect 4-0 on the week with a pair of singles wins and a pair of doubles wins, helping Idaho go 2-0 on the weekend ... Bendeck played at the No. 1 spot in three of those four matches, with a 6-2 doubles win over Seattle U, a 6-4 doubles win over EWU and a three-set win at the top singles spot over Eastern Washington’s Robert Dula ... in his No. 2 singles match, Bendeck won in straight sets, including a 6-0 win in the first set, defeating Seattle U’s Will Topp ... this week, the Vandals will travel for two matches ... UI will face Fresno State in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday and visit Portland State on Sunday.
KANSAS CITY
The UMKC men’s tennis team started 2014 with a 7-0 victory over Baker in the spring season opener ... the ‘Roos won all three doubles matches handily, before dispatching the Wildcats in straight sets in each of the singles contests ... the returning core of Tomas Patino, Andrey Smirnov, Daniil Ivanov and Conner Edwards joined with newcomers Mike Psarros, Vinh Pham, Daniel De Zamacona and Uldis Gaismins in the victory ... the ‘Roos will be back in action on Friday against Creighton.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State opened the 2014 dual season by splitting two matches, falling 4-0 to Texas A&M Corpus Christi and defeating Utah State 4-3 ...the Aggies dominated the singles matches, winning four of the six, but were defeated on the doubles courts with USU claiming the point ... in singles play, Paul Denele, Germain Degardin and Liam Goldberg each won in straight sets, with Denele coming up with a 6-5, 6-1 win over Dennis Baumgartner at the top spot ... Marc Westgate took his match to a fierce three sets before claiming the victory (5-6, 6-5, 6-4) ... The team now heads out on the road for four straight matches in Las Vegas, Nev. ... the Aggies face host UNLV on Friday, before meeting UC Riverside and Southern Mississippi on Saturday ... the team wraps the weekend with a match against Weber State on Sunday.
SEATTLE U
Seattle U went 1-3 to begin the dual portion of the season ... SU earned its first win of the season vs. Lewis-Clark State, 4-3, on Jan. 24 … Kevin Lynch earned three singles wins on the weekend, vs. Lewis-Clark State, Idaho and at Gonzaga … Riley Newman and Connor Leahy won the team’s lone singles match vs. Lewis-Clark State on Jan. 24 … Connor Leahy earned three singles wins vs. Idaho, Gonzaga, and Eastern Washington … Leahy was recently named a finalist for Prep Male Tennis Player of the Year at the annual Oregon Sports Awards ... this week, the Redhawks host George Fox University, in what will be SU’s first home match of the season.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
Texas-Pan American’s fell in its home opener this week, going down 7-0 to Louisiana-Lafayette ... the Broncs also had a match against UMBC cancelled due to weather ... this week, UTPA returns to action with a doubleheader on Saturday against Oral Roberts and Prairie View.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES
The 2014 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 25-27 in Las Cruces, N.M. The WAC conference championship will be up for grabs, as last year’s champions, Denver, has since departed the WAC.
WAC Tennis Athletes of the Week Announced
Idaho’s Jose Bendeck and Kansas City’s Dimitra Stavrianakou have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s tennis Athletes of the Week, respectively, for January 20-26.
Bendeck, a senior from Barranquilla, Colombia, went a perfect 4-0 on the week with a pair of singles wins and a pair of doubles wins, helping Idaho go 2-0 on the weekend. Bendeck played at the No. 1 spot in three of those four matches, with a 6-2 doubles win over Seattle U, a 6-4 doubles win over EWU and a three-set win at the top singles spot over Eastern Washington’s Robert Dula. In his No. 2 singles match, Bendeck won in straight sets, including a 6-0 win in the first set, defeating Seattle U’s Will Topp.
Stavrianakou, a sophomore from Vrilissia, Greece (American College of Greece), went undefeated in four matches last week, all in the No. 1 spot, leading Kansas City to a 2-0 weekend. In singles, Stavrianakou defeated Baker’s Megan Henry 6-1, 6-2 and topped William Jewell’s Kristin Stivers 6-2, 6-2. In doubles, along with partner Linda Ammar Mouhoub, she won 6-0 over the Baker squad and 6-3 against William Jewell.
Other Men’s Nominees: Felix Schueller, Grand Canyon … Tomas Patino, Kansas City … Connor Leahy, Seattle U.
Other Women’s Nominees: Faith Huckabee, Chicago State.