DENVER – Missouri-Kansas City’s Airam Castellano and Dimitra Stavrianakou have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Tennis Athletes of the Week, respectively, for March 9-15.
Castellano, a freshman from Gran Canaria, Spain (IES Perez Galdos), went 2-1 on the week in singles and doubles play, and helped UMKC to its best home start since 2011 at 4-0. Castellano defeated Abilene Christian’s Nico Agritelley 6-4, 6-2 followed by his win over Omaha’s Colin Buckley 6-1, 6-0. In doubles play he partnered with Mike Psarros to defeat Guilherme Gesser/Nico Agritelley 6-4 and Colin Buckley/Nathan Greteman 6-2. His performances helped UMKC beat Abilene Christian 4-3 and Omaha 4-0 at home.
Stavrianakou, a junior from Vrilissia, Greece (American College of Athens), helped UMKC knock off Oral Roberts by a 5-2 score by winning both her No. 1 positions in doubles and singles. Stavrianakou defeated Oral Roberts’ Andrada Gordan 6-2, 6-1 in singles and with the help of her doubles partner Maddie Schulte, they won 6-3 over Marzianne Bouwe and Petya Simeonova. Her wins helped UMKC to a 6-0 streak at home to start the year for the first time in school history.
Other Men’s Nominees: None.
Other Women’s Nominees: Reegan Greenwood, Texas-Pan American.