Two players from the same high school - UC Irvine's Fabian Matthews and UC Santa Barbara's Jill Damion - were instrumental in key victories for their teams, earning Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.
Matthews Overcomes Two Deficits To Lead UC Irvine To Key Big West Win
UC Irvine junior
Fabian Matthews (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) helped keep his team rolling with a key conference win against rival UC Santa Barbara, claiming Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week accolades in the process.
The Anteaters eked out a tough 4-3 victory against the Gauchos on Friday to win their seventh straight match.
Matthews was embroiled in an intense match at No. 2 singles against UCSB’s Taylor Chavez-Goggin. After dropping the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker, Matthews rebounded to take the next two sets 6-0 and 6-4. In the decisive third set, the junior fought back from a 4-1 deficit to overtake his opponent.
Matthews and partner Shan Sondhu after won an 8-3 match at No. 2 doubles against Mathieu Forget and Benjamin Recknagel.
Others nominated: None
Damion Helps UC Santa Barbara Halt Longtime Long Beach State Win Streak
Jill Damion (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) was instrumental in helping UC Santa Barbara hand Long Beach State its first regular season conference loss in over three years, capturing Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.
Damion won a key match at No. 2 singles against Jaklin Alawi of the 49ers, overcoming a first set deficit to pull out the 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 triumph. The Gauchos eked out a 4-3 win against the three-time defending champion 49ers to deal them their first conference loss since March 1, 2007.
The junior was also victorious in her No. 2 doubles match against counterparts from another Big West rival in No. 67 Cal Poly, but the Gauchos fell 5-2 in that match. Damion won another three-set match against UC Riverside’s Nadia Sakhakorn 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 as UCSB closed out the week with a 7-0 triumph against the Highlanders.
Others nominated: Alexa Lee (Cal Poly); Lauren Curry (UC Davis); Courtney Byron (UC Irvine); Jenifer Widjaja (Pacific)