DENVER - Grand Canyon's Felix Schueller and NM State's Rimpledeep Kaur have been named Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for March 21-27.
Schueller, a senior from Amstetten, Austria (BRG Ostarrichi Amstetten) helped GCU go 3-0 on the week in the first WAC cluster of the season with wins against UT Rio Grande Valley, 6-1, Chicago State, 7-0 and defending WAC Champ, NM State 4-3. After the Aggies took the match on court 2, it came down to Schueller and his partner Alexander Roggenkamp on court 1 and when the Lopes needed their top due to step up, Schueller and Roggenkamp delivered with a 6-3 win, clinching the doubles point for GCU.
Kaur, a sophomore from Jassowal, India (Harvest International School & Tennis Academy) continued her tear on the tennis courts on Easter Sunday, winning all four of her matches in singles and doubles. In singles action, Kaur gave up just three points against her opponents at the No. 1 position. Against Texas-Permian Basin, Kaur nearly blanked Lisa Roslanova 6-0, 6-1. In her second singles match, Kaur flexed her muscles with another dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory. Teaming up with teammate Ashvarya Shrivastav, the two cruised to a pair of wins over UTPB and WNMU's doubles team 6-4 and 6-1, respectively. Kaur has now won five-straight singles matches and seven of her last eight. In her last five matches, Kaur has only given up five points in total. She's also won four of her last five doubles matches in dual play.
Other men's nominees: Missouri-Kansas City's Uldis Gaismins helped UMKC extend its win streak to six matches overall, and start 2-0 in WAC play, going a perfect 3-0 in both singles and doubles. He started the week with a straight-set win against McPherson College, while posting an easy 6-2 doubles victory with partner Amaury Navette. He followed in WAC play with a perfect start, playing at the No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles positions both days. NM State's Liam Goldberg played an integral role in NM State winning five-straight matches before the Aggies saw their streak snapped by preseason favorite, Grand Canyon. However, Goldberg did everything in his power to give his team the win, tallying wins in every singles and doubles match this past conference cluster. The Melbourne, Australia, product went 3-0 at the No. 3 singles position, including his fifth-straight in singles action at weekend's end. Goldberg has been especially successful in doubles play since teaming up with Stijn de Haan at the No. 2 slot. Goldberg has now won eight-straight doubles matches, including seven with de Haan. UT Rio Grande Valley's Juan Cruz Soria went 2-1 in singles over the weekend as he improved to 12-5 in the dual match season. He defeated GCU's Mitch Maroscher 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 to record the lone point for the Vaqueros against the Antelopes. He closed out the weekend with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Seattle U's Ian Clare on Saturday. With the two wins, Soria ties his win total from last season. Soria teamed with Koby Jansen to record one win over the weekend as they defeated Seattle U's Tanner Berkabile and Matt Alderson 6-2. It was their team-leading sixth doubles win of the season.
Other women's nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Tara Donaho won her seventh straight singles match after defeating Central Arkansas' Krizia Buck 6-2, 2-6, 10-3. Donaho improved to 9-2 on the season, which leads the team. Donaho is 8-2 in her last 10 matches.