ARLINGTON, Texas – Abilene Christian’s Olivia Sears and Grand Canyon’s Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Women’s Tennis Players for the month ending on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
 
Sears (So.) was awarded the Women’s Singles Player of the Month after going 5-2 in October. Sears started the month going 1-1 in the ACU Invite, collecting a win against New Mexico State’s Valeriia Ivanovskia (6-2, 6-2) after falling early to Tarleton State’s Martha Makantasi (6-1, 6-3). Sears had another 1-1 performance in the ITA Texas Regionals in Waco where she defeated Lamar’s Leah Kuruvilla (6-2, 6-1) in the first round, but fell in the second round to UTSA’s Vittoria Baccini (6-3, 6-3). Sears finished up the Fall season strong by going 3-0 in the Wildcat Invite, picking up wins against Tarleton State’s Elsa Boisson (7-6 [7-3], 7-5), UTEP’s Z. Szczpanska (6-1, 6-3), and Texas State’s Andrea Pineda (6-3, 6-3).
 
Puehse (Gr.) and Strombacha (Sr.) are awarded the Women’s Doubles Players of the Month after advancing to the quarterfinals at the ITA Southwest Regional and most notably, being the first Lopes to be invited to the ITA Fall National Championships in GCU women’s tennis program history. In the ITA Southwest Regionals, Puehse and Strombacha rolled their way to the quarterfinals by taking on and defeating Arizona’s Kayla Wilkins/Reece Carter 8-4 and San Diego State’s Andjela Skrobonja/Andreea Velcea 8-5. The pair of Lopes put up a good fight with Pepperdine’s Janice Tjen/Savannah Broadus but ultimately fell 8-4 to the No. 1 seed. In the program’s first ever appearance in the ITA Fall National Championships, the pair put up a strong battle with Texas Tech’s Avelina Sayfetdinova/Metka Komac but ended up on the wrong side of the scoresheet falling 6-4, 3-6, 13-11.
 
2023 TicketSmarter WAC Women’s Tennis Players Monthly Awards
 
WOMEN’S SINGLES PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Dania Deaifi, So., Grand Canyon (Sept)
Olivia Sears, So., Abilene Christian (Oct)
 
WOMEN’S DOUBLES PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Natasha Puehse, Gr., and Santa Strombacha, Sr., Grand Canyon (Sept)
Natasha Puehse, Gr., and Santa Strombacha, Sr., Grand Canyon (Oct)