United Athletic Conference

Arlington, Texas – Grand Canyon’s women’s singles player Santa Strombacha and women’s doubles team Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Players of the Week. UTRGV’s men’s singles player Emilien Burnel and Abilene Christian’s men’s doubles team Dario Kmet and Daniel Morozov have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Players of the Week, for the competition week ending on Feb. 21. 

Strombacha, a junior from Berlin, Germany, went 2-0 in singles at the No. 2 position this past week, defeating San Jose State’s Carolina Millan 6-2, 6-2 and Santa Clara’s Velizara Fileva 6-2, 6-2. Strombacha has won her last six singles matches. 

Puehse, a senior from Scottsdale, Arizona, and Strombacha, a junior from Berlin, Germany, defeated San Jose State’s Alba Gallindo and Lara Marco Mas 6-2 in Position 1. The pair then went on to defeat Santa Clara’s JennaMarie Gordon Kacey Feng 6-1 in Position 1. Puehse and Strombacha have won four doubles matches in a row. 

Burnel, a junior from La Teste-De-Bush, France, controlled his No. 1 singles bout against Incarnate Word’s Pietro Perego on last week, earning a 6-0, 7-5 win. Burnel is now 5-5 on the season and 4-4 in the No. 1 flight. Burnel also leads UTRGV in singles victories. 

Kmet, a junior from Sydney, Australia, and Morozov, a sophomore from Juliet, Illinois, went 2-1 on last week. The duo lost to Radford’s Demis Taramonlis and Konstantinos 4-6 before capturing a victory over Oral Robert’s Ignacio Vinas and Ezequiel Monferrer 6-4. They went on to beat conference foe NM State’s Jordy Visser and Yehor Opanasenko 6-1 to close out the week.  

2023 TicketSmarter WAC Tennis Weekly Awards 

WAC Women's Tennis Singles Player of the Week 
Santa Strombacha, Grand Canyon (Feb. 22) 
Emma Persson, Tarleton (Feb. 15)  
Martha Makantasi, Tarleton (Feb. 7)  
Martha Makantasi, Tarleton (Jan. 31) 
Isabelle Bahr, UTRGV (Jan. 24) 

WAC Women's Tennis Doubles Players of the Week 
Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha, Grand Canyon (Feb. 22) 
Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha, Grand Canyon (Feb. 15)  
Ximena Morales and Laure Razet, Tarleton (Feb. 7) 
Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha, Grand Canyon (Jan. 31) 
Isabelle Bahr and Yaiza Vazquez, UTRGV (Jan. 24) 

WAC Men's Tennis Singles Player of the Week 
Emilien Burnel, UTRGV (Feb. 22)  
Jonathan Da Silva, Grand Canyon (Feb. 15)  
Emilien Burnel, UTRGV (Feb. 7) 
Chris Lawrance, UTRGV (Jan. 31) 
Martim Marujo, Grand Canyon (Jan. 24) 

WAC Men's Tennis Doubles Players of the Week 
Dario Kmet and Daniel Morozov, Abilene Christian (Feb. 22) 
William Alsterback and Alfred Almasi, Grand Canyon (Feb. 15) 
Emilien Burnel and Borna Devald, UTRGV (Jan. 24) 

- WAC -