DENVER - Missouri-Kansas City's Mike Psarros and Seattle U's Kristen James have been named Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 22-28.
Psarros, a junior from Athens, Greece was a perfect 2-0 in both singles and doubles, helping the Roos post a 1-1 record in a trip to California, including a narrow 4-3 loss to No. 72 Santa Clara on Saturday. Psarros and partner Airam Castellano won 7-5 at No. 1 doubles against the Broncos, before he took a come from behind victory at the No. 4 spot in singles over Connor Garnett. Against UC-Santa Cruz, he and Castellano took a 6-2 win in doubles, before he rolled in singles play over Ryan Dugan by 6-2, 6-4 scores. He moved up to 39 doubles wins in his career over the weekend, putting him in a tie for eighth in school history.
James, a senior from Lubbock, Texas (Lubbock HS) won both singles matches on the weekend as well as her only double match to finish with partner Sari Kwee as the Redhawks swept matches vs. Northern Colorado and Portland State.
Other men's nominees: Seattle U's John Stormans clinched the match for the Redhawks at No. 2 singles in a 4-3 victory vs. Whitman while, in doubles, he and partner Connor Leahy won the Redhawks' only doubles match on Saturday. As a pair, Stormans and Leahy have won six straight doubles matches while Stormans has won his last two and three of his last five singles matches. UT Rio Grande Valley's Koby Jansen went 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles over the weekend and riding a three-match win streak. Jansen defeated St. Mary's Aldo Maldonado 6-1, 6-0 on court four on Friday in Brownsville, Texas. He then picked up a 7-6, 6-2 victory over St. Edward's Logan Buignet that clinched the match for the Vaqueros over the Hilltoppers. In doubles, Jansen teamed with Juan Cruz Soria to defeat St. Mary's Adam Dockery and Brien Galon 6-3. They turned around and beat St. Edward's Charlie Shin and Ricardo Pineda 6-3. They are now 3-1 on the season as a team.
Other women's nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Dominique Ibarra improved to 3-1 on the season in singles after defeating UTSA's Alena Shichkova on Sunday. After dropping the first set 2-6, she bounced back to force a third set with a 6-3 win in the second before closing the match with a 7-5 victory in the third. She then teamed with Tara Donaho to pick up a 6-2 victory over Lina Hallgren and Charlene Tiwari in doubles.