DENVER - Missouri-Kansas City's Airam Castellano and UT Rio Grande Valley's Dominique Ibarra have been named Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for April 4-10.
Castellano, a sophomore from Gran Canaria, Spain (ES Perez Galdos) played a perfect 3-0 week in both singles and doubles at the WAC Cluster at the No. 1 position, helping UMKC claim a share of the WAC regular season title. He has now won nine straight singles matches, and finished a perfect 5-0 in WAC play this year at No. 1. He started the weekend in singles against NMSU's Strahinja Trecakov, taking a three-set victory, while taking a win in doubles with partner Mike Psarros, helping secure two points in the dual for UMKC. The next day, he defeated reigning WAC Player of the Year Juan Cruz Soria in straight sets to help UMKC to a 5-2 victory in the match, also winning in a tiebreak in doubles. The final day, he helped the Roos get out to a big lead against GCU, taking out Mitch Maroscher in straight sets in singles, before coming up big in doubles with Psarros at the end of the day to grab a 7-5 victory, the first needed to clinch the doubles point and the match to claim a share of the crown. He now has a school record 23 victories this season, shattering the single-season record of 19 at UMKC.
Ibarra, a freshman from Barcelona, Spain (Lleo XIII) went 1-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles last weekend. She defeated Dallas Baptist's Madeline Coffman 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot. Ibarra led one set to none in her other singles match of the weekend as she took the first set against UTEP's Daphne Visscher but the match went unfinished. In doubles, Ibarra teamed with Doris Aleksovska to record a pair of wins after defeating Dallas Baptist's team of Bianca Tijerina and Madeline Coffman 6-3 and then they closed out their weekend with a 6-2 win over UTEP's Visscher and Maria Paula Medina.
Other men's nominees: NM State's Mauri Benitez came in the clutch on Saturday for NM State, rallying from being down one set to win his next two to help the Aggies finish the weekend 2-0. That win allowed the Aggies to earn a share of the regular-season title for the first time in program history since joining the WAC. Benitez also cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win on Friday in singles against UMKC's Vinh Phan. The Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, product also won his doubles match against the ‘Roos 6-2 with fellow freshman Enrique Asmar. The two won by default on Saturday over the Cougars in doubles. UT Rio Grande Valley's Elliot Johnstone went 2-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles over the weekend. He defeated Chicago State's Rohan Wattley 6-1, 6-4 on Friday and then defeated Missouri-Kansas City's Mike Psarros 6-7, 6-1, 10-2 for his fourth straight win. With his two wins to close out the regular season, Johnstone has improved to 13-7 in singles, which ranks second on the team in wins. In doubles, Johnstone partnered with Andres Hernandez to pick up a 7-6 win over Wattley and Felix Savard, which was their fifth win of the season as a team.
Other women's nominees: Chicago State's Marnie Perez-Ochoa concluded the regular season with a bang in her final home match yesterday against Oral Roberts by winning her fifth consecutive singles match since March 29th. She came back from losing 6-2 in the first set of her No. 4 singles match against Brenda Mercado Joye before winning 6-0 and 7-5 in the final two sets. The win improved her record to a perfect 5-0 at the No. 4 flight this season.