UC Irvine's Sam Gould upset a ranked opponent and Pacific's Jenifer Widjaja knocked off the top singles player from Big West champion Long Beach State, highlighting the performances for the Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week.
Gould Defeats No. 92-Ranked Singles Player
Sam Gould notched a pair of victories, including one against a ranked opponent, as the UC Irvine junior garnered Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week accolades.
Gould was victorious against San Diego’s Nikola Bubnic, defeating the nation’s No. 92-ranked player 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 to win at No. 2 singles. Gould did his part to lead the No. 47 Anteaters to an upset of the No. 31-ranked Toreros, but UCI fell by a 5-2 score.
The Anteaters rebounded with a 5-2 triumph against Pacific in a key Big West match later in the week. Gould again excelled with a solid 6-3, 6-1 victory against Tomasz Krzyszkowski. He also partnered with Steven Henderson at No. 2 doubles and the Anteater duo eked out a 9-7 win against Lance Dugan and Angus Thomson. Gould’s two wins boosted his singles dual record to 16-5 on the season.
Others nominated: Brian McPhee (Cal Poly); Felix Macherez (UC Riverside); Alex Konigsfeldt (UC Santa Barbara); Fernando Ristow (Pacific)
Pacific's Widjaja Powers Through Singles Opponents
Jenifer Widjaja delivered a couple of dominating performances at the top of Pacific’s lineup to capture Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.
The senior earned an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win against Long Beach State’s Anais Dallara at No. 1 singles to begin her week. Although the Tigers lost the match 5-2 to the 49ers, Widjaja also teamed with Julia Hansen to deal the 49er duo of Dallara and Klaudia Malenovska an 8-4 defeat at No. 1 doubles.
Widjaja’s week continued with a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Nevada’s Florence De Vrye. She and Hansen won again in the top doubles spot, defeating the Wolf Pack tandem of Emma Verberne and Lais Ogata, and helping the Tigers secure the doubles point.
Widjaja is now 14-4 in dual singles matches for the season.
Others nominated: Florence Lehane (Cal Poly); Klaudia Malenovska (Long Beach State); Lauren Curry (UC Davis); Courtney Byron (UC Irvine); Taylor Raney (UC Riverside); Kiersten Meehan (UC Santa Barbara)