Complete Release in PDF Format: Men/Women
Players of the Week- Feb. 12-18
Seattle U's singles player Arshak Ghazaryan and UT Rio Grande Valley's singles player Dominique Ibarra, and Grand Canyon's doubles team Mathieu Rajaonah and Lorenzo Fucile and UT Rio Grande Valley's doubles team Dominique Esparza and Doris Aleksovska have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 12-18.
Ghazaryan, a sophomore from Yereman, Armenia, led his team to a 2-0 weekend as he also finished undefeated in singles competition. He was victorious over Southern Utah's second flight with scores of 6-4, 6-3 which helped his team get a 5-2 win over the Thunderbirds. Ghazaryan then defeated Pacific Lutheran's top competitor 6-2, 6-3 to help his team go 7-0 to finish the weekend.
Ibarra, a junior from Barcelona, Spain, closed out her weekend with a 2-0 singles record as she improved to 6-1 in the spring and is riding a six-match win streak. She defeated Lamar's third flight in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. Ibarra then closed out the weekend with a 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 win over Sam Houston State's number three.
Rajaonah, a junior from Marseille, France, and teammate Fucile, a sophomore from Messina, Italy, made program history against Pacific this past weekend. Their 6-4 victory against the No. 24 ranked doubles team in the country was the first win against a ranked doubles team in the program's Division I history. Against Saint Mary's the duo was down 1-5 and fought off two match points to come back to win six straight games and won 7-5.
Esparza, a senior from Vera Cruz, Mexico, and partner Aleksovska, a redshirt junior from Tetovo, Macedonia, went 2-0 on the weekend after teaming up for the first time this year. The duo opened doubles with a 6-4 win over Lamar's second flight pair as they helped the team clinch the doubles point. The two then helped UT Rio Grande Valley clinch the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Sam Houston's second flight.
Other male singles nominees: Grand Canyon's Gregoire Balenci was the only GCU player to win both singles matches over the weekend as he defeated Pacific's fifth flight 6-2, 6-4 and Saint Mary's fifth flight 6-4, 7-6 (3)… NM State's Louis Menard came back from behind as he was victorious over UT Arlington's sixth flight 1-6, 7-6, 6-1… UT Rio Grande Valley's Koby Jansen captured a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Texas A&M- Corpus Christi's top competitor.
Other female singles nominees: Chicago State's Iesha Shepherd lost to the University of Illinois at Chicago's fourth flight 1-6, 2-6 before defeating Eastern Illinois' fifth flight 6-2, 6-3 and Purdue Northwest's fifth flight 6-0, 6-0… Grand Canyon's Valentina Mokrova defeated Utah State's fourth flight 6-4, 6-3 to keep her team in the match… Kansas City's Aliona Ladutska clinched the match for the Rooks with the 6-1, 6-7, 6-2 victory over South Dakota's top competitor.
Other male doubles nominees: Seattle U's Trenton Nield/Colton Weeldreyer were up 4-2 before their match went unfinished with Southern Utah's top flight and beat Pacific Lutheran's top duo 6-2… UT Rio Grande Valley's Koby Jansen/Yehonatan Kaufman defeated Texas A&M- Corpus Christi's top pair 6-4.
Other female doubles nominees: Chicago State's Lorea Gamboa/Leshia Gadacz lost 2-6 to the University of Illinois at Chicago's second flight before bouncing back to defeat Eastern Illinois' third flight 6-3 and Purdue Northwest's third flight 6-0… Grand Canyon's Valentina Mokrova/Celina, Buhr were up 5-4 before they went unfinished with Utah State's second flight… Kansas City's Melinda Johnson/Yana Grechkina won the first match of the contest for the Roos as they defeated South Dakota's top flight 6-2.
2018 WAC Tournament
The 2018 WAC Men's and Women's Tennis Tournaments will be hosted by Grand Canyon on April 27-29 in Phoenix. All six teams will compete in the Tournament as the first round will be No. 4 seed against No. 5 seed and No. 3 seed takes on No. 6 seed. No. 1 and No. 2 seeds earn a ticket straight to the semifinals. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the WAC representative. The reigning tournament champion is Kansas City as they defeated NM State 4-3 in the Championship match last year.
TOURNAMENT LOCATION CHANGE
The tournament will still be hosted by Grand Canyon, but it will be held at the Phoenix Tennis Center instead of competing at the Paseo Racquet Center.
2017 ITA REGIONALS
The ITA Regional Championships will feature some of the top men's and women's players across the country. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete across 85 ITA Regional Championships around the country.
Region/Host
Northwest: Pacific
Southwest: Pepperdine
Mountain: BYU
Texas: Texas A&M
Central: Minnesota
Midwest: Michigan
Northeast: Yale
Ohio Valley: Tennessee
Atlantic: Liberty
Carolina: Duke
Southern: LSU
Southeast: Georgia Tech
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - The 2018 Tennis National Championships will take place in Winston Salem, N.C at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. Wake Forest will be the host May 17-28.
May 17-28
Location: Winston Salem, N.C
Host: Wake Forest