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Players of the Week- Feb. 19-25
Grand Canyon's singles players Freddie Grant and Emilia Occhipinti, and Kansas City's doubles team Airam Castellano and Alex Pozo and UT Rio Grande Valley's doubles team Marine Darzyan and Dominique Ibarra have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 19-25.
Grant, a freshman from Surrey, England, earned his first two singles wins of the dual-match season on Friday and Saturday. He took down the sixth flight Sacramento State competitor 6-2, 6-2. Grant also defeated Santa Clara's sixth flight opponent 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. He was the only Lope to win both matches in California.
Occhipinti, a sophomore from Ragusa, Italy, went 2-0 on the weekend in singles play. She took down the third flight opponents from both Hawaii (6-0, 6-4) and San Diego State (6-3, 6-3). With the win against San Diego State, she helped her team defeat SDSU for the first time in the program's history. Also with the two wins this weekend, she is currently riding a three-match winning streak.
Castellano, a senior from Gran Canaria, Spain, and teammate Pozo, a senior from St. Louis, Mo., paired together to defeat Oral Roberts top flight 6-2. With the victory, they helped their team collect their third win of the season as they beat a former conference rival.
Darzyan, a junior from Volgogrod, Russia, and partner Ibarra, a junior from Barcelona, Spain, picked up a 7-5 win over Incarnate Word's top flight. The win helped UTRGV clinch the doubles point for the third straight match and is the duo's fourth win together this season.
Other male singles nominees: Kansas City's Airam Castellano took down top opponent from Oral Roberts 7-6, 7-5… UT Rio Grande Valley's Koby Jansen defeated Lamar's top competitor 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Other female singles nominees: Kansas City's Aliona Ladutska defeated Akron's top flight 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 before dropping the match against Missouri's top flight 6-2, 6-1… NM State's Rebecca Keijzerwaard won against Tarleton State's second flight opponent 6-1, 7-6 and moved up to the top flight to defeat New Mexico Military Institute's competitor 7-6, 6-4… Seattle U's Kali McCollister finished with a 2-0 record as she defeated the third flight opponent from Lewis and Clark State College 6-0, 6-1 and the fifth flight from Idaho State 7-6, 7-5… UT Rio Grande Valley's Doris Aleksovska defeated Incarnate Word's fifth flight 6-3, 7-5.
Other male doubles nominees: Grand Canyon's Lucas Grego/Freddie Grant defeated Sacramento State's third flight 6-0 before going unfinished with Santa Clara's third flight 5-6… UT Rio Grande Valley's Dennis Boisseau/Clément Sarradin were victorious over Lamar's second flight 6-2.
Other female doubles nominees: Chicago State's Lorea Gamboa/Leshia Gadacz defeated Milwaukee's second best flight 7-5… Kansas City's Aliona Ladutska/Grace Ball paired together as the second flight to defeat Akron's duo 7-6 (7-4) before dropping the decision against Missouri's pair 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