DENVER- NM State singles player Christofer Goncalves and Kansas City's singles player Aliona Ladutska, and NM State's doubles team Goncalves and Luis Flores and UT Rio Grande Valley's doubles team Dominique Esparza and Lesya Patnaik have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Month, respectively, for October.
Goncalves, a senior from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, nearly clinched a spot in the ITA Fall National Championships, but fell in the semifinals of the ITA Mountain Championship. He allowed no more than four points a set during his hot-streak. For October, Goncalves won five straight matches before being eliminated in the semis. In the round of 128, Goncalves took down Northern Colorado's Nick Wade in a 6-4 and 6-1 decision. He went head to head with Southern Utah's Jose Ortega in the round of 64 and advanced with a score of 6-1 and 6-4. In the round of 32, he dominated Idaho's Scarpelli Guilherme with 6-0 and 6-1 decisions. The then took on Denver's Sean Huynh in the round of 16 and although the match was closer, Goncalves still came out victorious with two 6-4 decisions. In the quarterfinals, he took down New Mexico's Dominic West 6-2 and 6-2 before he lost to BYU's Sean Hill in the semifinals by 7-5 and 7-6 (4).
Ladutska, a senior from Minsk, Belarus, advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Central Region Championship. In the round of 64, she took down Tulsa's Van Rensburg by a score of 6-1 and 6-1. She then went on to upset No. 11 seed Jurasic from Arkansas, 6-3 and 7-5. She then lost to Kansas's Vogasari in the round of 16 with scores of 6-0, 3-6 and 6-3.
Goncalves and teammate Flores, a sophomore from Toluca, Mexico, continued to roll at the ITA Mountain Regional, racing to the round of 16 before falling to host BYU's pair of Jeffrey Hsu and Sean Hill 8-5. To get to the round of 16, they first had to defeat Boise State's Pedro Platzeck and Stefan Lalovic 8-5 in the round of 64. Then the pair had to defeat Montana's Victor Casadevall and Ingacio Tejerina 8-6 in the round of 32.
Esparza, a senior from Vera Cruz, Mexico and partner Patnaik, a freshman from Hyderabad, India teamed up to go 2-1 at the Bearkat Invitational. The duo defeated Louisiana Tech's Nadia Manion and Claudia Oravcova 6-0 in the No. 1 doubles flight. They then followed that with a 6-4 win over Sam Houston State's Carrie Casey and Mila Milanovich the next day before falling in a tight match against UTSA's Denisa Ibrahimovic and Kylee Kato 7-6.
Other male singles nominees: Chicago State's Christian Gonzalez went 2-3 for the month of October gathering those two wins at the Crusader Invitational… Grand Canyon's Valentin Lang had a 6-4 record during the month of October which included a 2-1 record at the Aztec Invite, 2-2 record at the ITA Southwest Regional and a 2-1 record at the Arizona Hidden Dual… Kansas City's Airam Castellano went 4-1 for October where advanced to the final eight of the ITA Central Regional Championship before being eliminated… Seattle U's Colton Weeldreyer went 5-5 in tournament play and advanced a school record into the ITA Regionals.
Other female singles nominees: Grand Canyon's Kylie Waschuk advanced to the championship match of Flight D at the Long Beach Fall Invite before suffering her first loss to Romeka of Loyola Marymount… NM State's Yadira Rubio went 2-2 for the month of October… Seattle U's Kali McCollister won her fligh in the Whitman Invitational after defeating three opponents all in straight sets. UT Rio Grande Valley's Lasya Patnaik went 1-2 at the Bearkat Invitational as she defeated UTSA's Denisa Ibrahimovic 6-1, 3-6 and 1-0 (7).
Other male doubles nominees: Chicago State's Christian Gonzalez/Felix Savard combined for a 2-1 record for the month of October which included a 2-0 mark at the Valparaiso Fall Invitational before losing the first match at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament… Grand Canyon's Leo Andreolli/Justin Cvitanovic took third place in Flight 2 at the Aztec Fall Invite… UT Rio Grande Valley's Yehonatan Kaufman/Elliot Johnstone went 3-2 at the ITA Regional Tournament where they fell to Rice pair in the consolation bracket finals.
Other female doubles nominees: Chicago State's Mariya Kostyuk/Iesha Shepherd finished off their fall season by posting a 2-1 record and advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament… Grand Canyon's Celina Buhr/Emilia Occhupinti lost in the first round of the Long Beach Fall Invite but regrouped and won two straight matches to make it to the final of the Flight 1 doubles consolation bracket before falling to a duo from LMU.