SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 31
Grand Canyon at New Mexico, 9:00 a.m. MT
Seattle U at Idaho State, 1:00 p.m. MT
Creighton at Kansas City, 2:00 p.m. CT
Utah State at Chicago State, 6:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, Feb. 1
Seattle U vs. Weber State (Boise, Idaho), 11:00 a.m. MT
Wichita State at Kansas City, 2:00 p.m. CT
Idaho at Eastern Washington, 2:00 p.m. PT
South Dakota at Chicago State, 5:00 p.m. CT
Sunday, Feb. 2
New Mexico State at Arizona, 9:00 a.m. AZ
Prairie View at Texas-Pan American, 11:00 a.m. CT
Seattle U at Boise State, 11:00 a.m. MT
Idaho at Gonzaga, 11:30 a.m. PT
Monday, Feb. 3
San Francisco vs. New Mexico State (Tucson, Ariz), 11:00 a.m. AZ
RESULTS
Friday, Jan. 24
UMBC at Texas-Pan American, PPD-Weather
Kansas City def. Baker, 7-0
Detroit def. Chicago State, 6-1
Saturday, Jan. 25
Western Michigan def. Chicago State, 6-1
Sunday, Jan. 26
Kansas City def. William Jewell, 6-1
TEAM RECAP
CHICAGO STATE
Chicago State opened the dual portion of the season with two losses, falling to Detroit and Western Michigan by the identical score of 6-1 ... freshman Faith Huckabee leads the team in singles victories with six and is the only Cougar over the .500 mark in singles (6-5) ... off the strength of her two wins last week, she’s now won three of her last four singles matches after losing the previous three ... she is also tied for the team lead in doubles victories with five ... this week, the Cougars host Utah State on Friday and South Dakota on Saturday.
GRAND CANYON
Grand Canyon will embark on its first Division I and WAC season this year ... GCU had several impressive performances this fall ... Janaki Gunuganti advanced to the consolation semifinals of the ITA Championships ... Alexandra Petrzalkova and Priscilla Annoual claimed their respective bracket singles finals of the Balloon Fest in Albuquerque, N.M. ... Petrzalkova and Annoual earned each today Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Month honors this fall ... the ‘Lopes open the dual portion of the schedule on Friday at New Mexico.
IDAHO
Idaho was off last week ... the Vandals opened the 2014 portion of the schedule by falling 7-0 to Washington State on Jan. 17, before rallying to defeat Montana State 5-2 on Jan. 18 ... Almudena Sanz went 1-1 in both singles and doubles during the week, beating opponents from Montana State while losing against Washington State ... in her No. 1 singles match against WSU’s Elzaveta Luzina, Sanz trailed 5-0 in the first set before storming all the way back to force a tie-break ... she was able to beat MSU’s Iva Parapunova in straight sets at the top singles position ... the Vandal women’ return to action with a pair of matches in Spokane, Wash., against Eastern Washington and Gonzaga on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
KANSAS CITY
The ‘Roos opened the season with two dominant victories, 7-0 over Baker and 6-1 over William Jewell ... the lone loss of the weekend was in a tiebreaker at the No. 6 position on Sunday, after the win had already been clinched ... sophomore Dimitra Stavrianakou earned WAC tennis Athlete of the Week after going undefeated in both No. 1 singles and doubles ... UMKC will continue the season-opening home stand on Friday against Creighton.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State opens the 2014 dual season on the road Sunday at Arizona and then play San Francisco on Monday, with both matches taking place in Tucson, Ariz. ... Denise Van Der Ben advanced to the third round of singles play at the 2013 edition of the ITA Mountain Regional tournament, before falling to No. 41 Lucia Batta of UNLV ... junior Susana Alcaraz, sophomore Mia Brandt, and freshman Brittany Collens all won a tournament bracket during fall competition.
SEATTLE U
Seattle University women’s tennis team was off last weekend ... SU opened the spring season with a doubleheader versus Air Force, falling 7-0 in the first and 4-0 in the second ... during the second dual, Sarah Lucas and Barbara Carey were leading in the second set of their respective No. 3 singles and No. 4 singles matches, but the dual was called as a winner was already decided ... Seattle U will return to action on a weekend trip to the state of Idaho, facing Idaho State on Friday in Pocatello, before travelling to Boise to face Weber State on Saturday and Boise State on Sunday.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
The Broncs had the week off as their home opener against UMBC last Friday was cancelled due to bad weather ... the Broncs will host Prairie View A&M on Sunday at 10 a.m. for their 2014 home opener ... after Sunday’s matchup with Prairie View, the Broncs hit the road as their next six matches are on the road, starting on Feb. 10 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ... the Broncs are not back at the Orville Cox Tennis Center until Feb. 26 when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
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, San Jose State, has since departed the WAC.
TENNIS ATHELTES 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.