DENVER - Texas Rio Grande Valley's Juan Cruz Soria and Seattle U's Michelle Lui have been named Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Month, respectively, for September.
Soria leads the Vaqueros with three singles victories after picking up all his wins at the Rice Invitational. He picked up his wins over Portland's Pierre Garcia, Incarnate Word's Josip Smoljan and Lamar's Nikita Lis. In doubles, Soria teamed with Koby Jansen to go 5-2 in the month of September. The duo made the main draw finals at the Marco & Co. Catering Islander Open as they defeated doubles teams from UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before falling in the championship match. Soria and Jansen then won three matches in the back draw of Flight A at the Rice Invitational to win the back draw championship.
Lui, The 2014-15 WAC Freshman of the Year picked up where she left off, winning the singles black draw at the Idaho State Invitational. With partner Kelli Woodman, she also won the doubles black draw over the weekend. The sophomore did not lose a match in the month of September.
Other men's nominees: Chicago State's Rohan Wattley claimed his first tournament title after winning the Flight F single crown at the Purdue Invitational. Wattley captured straight set wins over opponents from Wright State and Dayton while earning tough three set victories over Eastern Kentucky and fellow sophomore teammate Gonzalo Martinez. Grand Canyon's Mitch Maroscher opened his season with a competitive first tournament, making his way to the championship match of the NMSU Invite, before falling to Christofer Goncalves of the host school in a three-set battle for the title. In doubles, he teamed up with Adrian Legarreta to continue their success from last year's 115th Ojai Independent College Championship for a third place finish in the first flight. UMKC's Mike Psarros Won the No. 1 doubles bracket at the Emporia State Invitational with partner Airam Castellano with three straight wins. He Also advanced to the final in the men's No. 3-4 bracket, where he was to play against UMKC teammate Vinh Pham.
Other women's nominees: Chicago State's Leshia Gadacz paced CSU during the month of September with a pair of runner-up finishes and a semifinal appearance in three tournaments. She teamed up with junior Hanna Pangestu to capture second place in the Green Flight doubles at the Cougar Invitational before posting a 1-1 record at the end of the month in advancing to the B flight semifinals at Bradley. Grand Canyon's Tatum Prudhomme made her way to the first flight's consolation finals where she defeated a player from Arizona Christian 6-3, 6-0. She continued her success in doubles by teaming up with Alexandra Petrzalkova for a third place finish in the first flight. UMKC's Raquel Argenal Advanced to the semifinals of the No. 1-2 singles bracket of the Emporia St. Invitational before falling to the tournament runner-up. Also played with teammate Melinda Johnson to win the No. 1 bracket in doubles play, winning three straight matches. New Mexico State's Ashvarya Shrivastava made it to the finals of the Aggie Invitational winning 2 of 3 singles matches and making it to the semifinals of the doubles winning 2 of 3. UTRGV's Daria Pentsova went 3-1 in her first tournament of her collegiate career en route to winning the back draw championship as the Marco & Co. Catering Islander Open.