DENVER- Grand Canyon singles player Gregoire Balenci and Kansas City singles player Katie Fries, and Kansas City doubles team Airam Castellano and Alex Pozo and Seattle U doubles team Hannah Gianan and Kali McCollister have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for Jan. 16-22.
Balenci, a senior from Paris, France, lost his first singles match against No. 6 UCLA's fifth flight, 6-2, 6-3 at the beginning of the weekend, but then provided his team with two wins which clinched two straight team wins for the Lopes against UC Riverside and UC Irvine. Grand Canyon came back from down 1-0 in each of those wins, and Balenci provided the fourth team point in singles for the Lopes. Balenci beat his opponent from UC Riverside 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for the first win and then beat his UC Irvine opponent 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 the next day.
Fries, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., started off the weekend with a loss to Kansas State's second flight, 6-2 and 6-4. She then started her team off with their first win of the match against Omaha as she took down their first flight 6-2 and 6-3 for Kansas City's first team win of the season.
Castellano, a senior from Gran Canaria, Spain, and teammate Pozo, a senior from St. Louis, kicked off the weekend with a loss to No. 15 Oklahoma State's top duo 3-6. The next day, they came together to upset No. 11 Baylor's No. 2 ranked duo in the nation, 6-3. Later the same day, Castellano and Canaria lost to a different duo from Baylor 4-6.
Gianan, a freshman from Camas, Wash., and partner McCollister, a sophomore from Portland, Ore., picked up a pair of wins against South Dakota and Eastern Washington. They competed in the third flight and took down the duo from South Dakota 6-4 and Eastern Washington 7-5.
Other male singles nominees: Chicago State's Rohan Wattley picked up a 6-0, 6-4 victory over St. Francis in the No. 2 singles flight to increase his winning streak to four matches dating back to last fall… Kansas City's Alex Pozo picked up a victory over No. 15 Oklahoma State's second flight 6-4, 6-4 and took No. 11 Baylor's No. 11 nationally ranked to a tie breaker for the first set but lost 6-7 (2-7), 1-6 as well as lost to another Baylor competitor 2-6, 3-6.
Other female singles nominees: Chicago State's Katarina Drazic managed to come back from a 5-7 loss in the first set to pull off a victory over Bowling Green's fifth flight competitor by winning the next two sets 6-4, 10-7… Grand Canyon's Kylie Waschuk lost to Michigan State's sixth flight competitor 6-0, 6-1 but bounced back to beat Detroit Mercy's sixth flight 6-3, 7-6 (3)… Seattle U's Hannah Gianan lost to South Dakota's second flight 6-3, 0-6, 2-6 and beat Eastern Washington's second flight 6-4, 6-2.
Other male doubles nominees: Chicago State's Christian Gonzalez/Felix Savard were victorious over St. Francis's first flight duo 6-2… Grand Canyon's Lorenzo Fucile/Mathieu Rajaonah competed in the first flight in all three matches and held the No. 6 UCLA duo down 4-3 before the match was stopped, but they won over UC Riverside duo 6-3 before losing to UC Irvine duo 6-3.
Other female doubles nominees: Chicago State's Mariya Kostyuk/Iesha Shepherd first lost to Bowling Green's second flight duo 2-6 before coming together to beat Toledo's number one flight 7-6 (7-2)… Grand Canyon's Celina Buhr/Valentina Mokrova lost a pair in the second flight, first against Michigan State 6-1 then to Detroit Mercy's duo 7-6 (2)… Kansas City's Fries/Thanushree Vale competed in the third flight against both the unfinished set to Kansas State and the 6-1 victory over Omaha.