TicketSmarter WAC Tennis Athletes of the Week Announced
DENVER – Chicago State's Javier Sanchez Pradillo, Grand Canyon's Natasha Puehse, UT Rio Grande Valley's men's doubles team Zane Kohrs and Luka Jankovic and Grand Canyon women's doubles team Autum Prudhomme and Emilia Occhipinti have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Tennis Athletes of the Week for Feb. 9 through Feb. 15.
Sanchez Pradillo, a junior from Toledo, Spain, went 1-1 on the week to pick up his first singles win of the young season as the Cougars competed against Western Michigan and Creighton. On Friday, Sanchez Pradillo earned a win in flight No. 4 over Creighton's Shin Inoue. He got out of the gate with a 6-4 win in the first set before dropping the second set 4-6. He then fought back to earn the singles point behind a 6-3 win in the third set.
Kohrs, a redshirt junior from Dallas, Texas, and Jankovic, a redshirt freshman from Belgrade, Serbia, won their second match in a row as the Vaqueros battled with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last week. The duo improved to 4-2 on the season after earning the win, 7-5, in a tightly contested doubles match with the Islanders' Ryuya Ata and Nathan Schwartz.
Puehse, a sophomore from Scottsdale, Arizona, collected her third consecutive singles win during the Lopes' second run-in with Arizona. Puehse battled back from an early deficit to earn the singles point over the Wildcats' Kayla Wilkins. After falling in the opening set 4-6, she pulled even with a 7-6 win in the second set. In the third and final set, Puehse proved to have the stamina as she took the set 6-3, giving her the match win.
Prudhomme, a senior from Glendale, Ariz., and Occhipinti, a graduate student from Rasuga, Italy, helped the Lopes clinch the doubles point against Arizona on Saturday. The pair defeated Arizona's Abby Amos and Talya Zandberg in the No. 2 spot by a score of 6-3, giving the Lopes their second doubles win as they led GCU into singles play with a 1-0 lead.
Other women's singles nominees: UT Rio Grande Valley's Isabelle Bahr moved to 3-2 on the year as she took down Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Camille Townsend (6-2, 3-6, 6-3) in the No. 1 spot.