Pacific's Sigurdsson Mops Up Another Tennis Athlete Of The Week Award
Pacific junior Arnar Sigurdsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) captured his third Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week award of the 2005 season. Sigurdsson, who vaulted nine spots from No. 75 to No. 66 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, won his fourth straight match in straight sets at the No. 1 singles position.
Sigurdsson defeated Dennis Andrade of Texas-San Antonio 6-1, 6-4 to help the Tigers to a 5-2 defeat of the Roadrunners on Sunday, February 20. Sigurdsson then partnered with Vladimir Zdravkovic at No. 1 doubles to defeat the 50th ranked duo of Ricardo Almeida and Andrade by an easy 8-0 score. The win propelled the Tiger tandem into the ITA doubles rankings at No. 38.
UC Irvine's Bentzer, Pacific's Mrazovic Topple Big West Opponents To Share Weekly Honor
UC Irvine senior Anna Bentzer (Stockholm, Sweden) and Pacific sophomore Vana Mrazovic (Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro) went 2-0 in singles competition against conference opponents and earned Big West Women's Tennis Co-Athlete of the Week honors for their efforts.
Bentzer defeated Cal State Northridge's Silvia Gutierrez 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 and UC Santa Barbara's Marielle Gruenig 6-1, 6-4 to improve her record against Big West opponents to 3-0 this season at No. 1 singles. The Anteaters won both of their matches, knocking off the Matadors by a 4-3 count and the Gauchos 4-2. Bentzer's only setback occurred at the No. 1 doubles spot when she and partner Hui Leow lost 8-3 to the Cal State Northridge duo of Gutierrez and YuYu Myinttun.
Mrazovic collected her second Athlete of the Week honor of 2005 as she also downed a pair of Big West opponents to help the Tigers improve their team record to 7-1. Mrazovic, at the No. 1 singles spot, knocked off UC Riverside's Michelle Beyronneau 6-2, 6-1 on Friday, February 18. The next day she earned an impressive 6-1, 6-4 victory over Long Beach State's Nicole Bouffler, who had entered the match No. 59 in the ITA rankings. Mrazovic entered the ITA rankings herself at No. 67 this week as she has rolled to a 7-1 start in singles. Mrazovic and Katharina Heil teamed up at No. 1 doubles to defeat UCR's Beyronneau and H.R. Espiritu 8-5, but fell to the LBSU tandem of Bouffler and Sandra Rocha 8-5.