Pacific’s Sigurdsson, UC Santa Barbara’s Anselme Defeat Ranked Opponents
Pacific senior Arnar Sigurdsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) and UC Santa Barbara senior Alex Anselme earned a share of Big West Men’s Tennis Co-Athlete of the Week honors after both players tuned up their games before Big West Tournament action with wins over ranked opponents.
Sigurdsson earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over San Francisco’s Pablo Pires de Almeida, who entered the match ranked No. 112 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. That win helped the Tigers to a decisive 5-2 team victory in their regular season finale on Sunday. Sigurdsson also rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Colin Mascall of Montana. He also went 2-0 in doubles with teammate Vladimir Zdravkovic. Sigurdsson has won nine straight singles matches and is 18-2 in dual matches at No. 1 singles this season. He is also ranked No. 83 in the latest ITA singles rankings.
Anselme also week 2-0 on the week from his No. 1 singles position. The Gauchos defeated UC Riverside and Denver by identical 5-2 scores. Anselme knocked off Justin Montgomery of the Highlanders by a 7-6, 6-1 score, then defeated No. 89 Adam Holmstrom of Denver 6-3, 7-6. Anselme and partner Anders Dalskov also went 2-0 at No. 2 doubles.
Idaho’s Ruman Collects First Weekly Honor Of Season
Idaho sophomore Patricia Ruman (San Diego, CA) collected her first Big West Women’s Tennis honor this season as her play sparked the Vandals to a pair of wins. She won both of her matches at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles as Idaho rolled to a pair of shutouts over Eastern Washington and Gonzaga.
Ruman defeated Sayaka Yoshimoto of Eastern Washington 6-0, 6-3 and then defeated Gonzaga’s Angela Fry 6-4, 6-2. In doubles action, Ruman teamed with Efrat Leopold to win 9-8 over EWU’s Kasey Knox and Yoshimoto before coming back to topple GU’s Fry and Sirrah Williams 8-2.
With the wins, Gruenig improved to 16-1 in dual matches at No. 1 singles this spring. Her 14 straight singles wins have placed her at No. 96 in the ITA rankings this week.