Frogs Sweep MWC Tennis Player of Week Honors
5/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 5, 2010
FORT WORTH - TCU junior Emanuel Brighiu has been selected as the Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, while sophomores Kayla Duncan and Gaby Mastromarino have been named MWC Co-Women's Tennis Players of the Week.
Brighiu, a product of Iasi, Romania, went a combined 6-0 in singles and doubles at the 2010 MWC Men's Tennis Championship to help propel the 72nd-ranked Horned Frogs to their third tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Championships.
In singles action, Brighiu began his standout week by downing MWC Co-Player of the Year Phillip Eilers in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to help TCU notch a 4-2 victory over Utah. The following day, in TCU's 4-2 win against 35th-ranked BYU, he recorded a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over Thomas Shubert. Brighiu capped off an undefeated week by notching a straight-sets victory over MWC Co-Player of the Year Juan Gomez (6-4, 6-4) in Saturday's 4-3 championship-clinching win against No. 55 San Diego State.
Brighiu was equally as impressive at the top of the doubles lineup, pairing with junior Christopher Price to go 3-0. Included in the total was a victory over SDSU's 87th-ranked tandem of Achim Vladimirschii and Giovanni Vaglietti (8-4).
Duncan, who hails from Winston-Salem, N.C., went a combined 4-2 in singles and doubles at the 2010 MWC Women's Tennis Championship, while also earning the championship-clinching point for the 56th-ranked Frogs in Saturday's 4-3 victory over No. 67 San Diego State.
With the tournament finale tied, 3-3, Duncan used a third-set tiebreaker to down SDSU's Julia Wais, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5), and help send the Frogs to the 2010 NCAA Championships. The win was Duncan's second clinching victory of the tournament. In Friday's 4-3 victory over No. 33 UNLV, Duncan and junior Katariina Tuohimaa, the 40th-ranked tandem in the country, nabbed the doubles point for TCU with an 8-3 decision over No. 58 Jana Albers and Kristina Nedeltcheva.
Mastromarino, who went undefeated in singles at the MWC Women's Tennis Championship, was instrumental in pushing TCU to a 4-3 comeback victory over 75th-ranked Wyoming in the tournament's opening round by ralliyng for a 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-4 win over Sasa Nemcova at No. 6 singles.
Mastromarino dropped the first set against Nemcova and was one game from defeat after falling behind 5-0 in the second set. With the match hanging in the balance, the TCU sophomore won seven consecutive games, at one point fighting off two match points, to reach a third set. In the final set, Mastromarino rallied from a 3-1 hole to take the set, 6-4, and help the Horned Frogs advance to the semifinals.
Both TCU squads will see their seasons continue after earning automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. The Frog men will face No. 18 Ole Miss in the opening round on Friday, May 14 in College Station, Texas, while the Frog women square off against No. 18 South Carolina the same day in Tallahassee, Fla. Selections for the NCAA Individual Championships will be announced Wednesday afternoon.
Players Mentioned
