NICOLAS MORENO DE ALBORAN, UC SANTA BARBARA •
MEN'S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Senior • New York, N.Y. • Ibstock Place School
UC Santa Barbara senior Nicolas Moreno de Alboran garnered his fitth career Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honor after dominating the competition to close out the regular season.
• The five career awards tie Moreno de Alboran for sixth on the Big West’s all-time list.
• Moreno de Alboran went 4-0 in singles and doubles to help the Gauchos defeat Cal Poly and Hawai‘i. UCSB finished an unbeaten 5-0 for its fourth straight Big West regular season title.
• The nation’s 16-ranked singles player knocked off Cal Poly’s Josh Ortlip (6-1, 6-0) and UH’s Andre Ilagan (6-0, 6-3) at the No. 1 position to win his fifth and sixth straight matches. Moreno de Alboran finished the regular season winning 11 of his last 12 singles matches.
• He also combined with Anders Holm to win both No. 1 doubles contests against the Mustangs and ‘Bows. They defeated Cal Poly’s Ortlip and Dominic Bechard (6-4) and UH’s Ilagan and Lucas Labrunie (6-3).
Others nominated: Mason Hansen (UC Irvine); Gilbert Chung (UC Riverside); Lucas Labrunie (Hawai‘i)
AMIT LEV ARI, UC SANTA BARBARA •
WOMEN'S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Junior • Nes Ziona, Israel • Ben Gurion HS
Helping UC Santa Barbara clinch its second consecutive conference regular season crown, junior Amit Lev-Ari commanding play across singles and doubles led to her selection as Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week.
• Lev-Ari allowed opponents to score a miniscule combined seven points in four matches. At No. 1 singles, she dispatched CSUN’s Monika Van de Vondel (6-0, 6-3) and Cal Poly’s Emily Louie-Meadors (6-3, 6-0) to help the Gauchos defeat the Matadors (5-2) and Mustangs (4-0).
• Lev-Ari and teammate Elizaveta Volodko were nearly perfect in their two matches at No. 2 doubles. They downed Jolene Coetzee and Ana Fraile Toboso of CSUN, 6-1, and blanked the Mustang duo of Susanne Boyden and Grace Olyphant.
Others nominated: Karla Portalatin (Cal State Fullerton); Ana Fraile Toboso (CSUN); Natalia Munoz (Long Beach State); Stephanie Nguyen (UC Irvine); Petra Melounova (Hawai‘i)