April 29, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - New Mexico's Johnny Parkes and TCU's Macall Harkins have been named the Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, respectively.

A senior from Southport, Merseyside, England, Parkes went 3-0 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles play as No. 41 New Mexico captured the 2009 Mountain West Conference Men's Championship crown with victories over Air Force (4-0), UNLV (4-2) and No. 38 TCU (4-3). At No. 1 singles, Parkes defeated Air Force's Cody Hall (6-2, 6-1) in the quarterfinals, UNLV's Elliot Wronski (6-2, 6-2) in the semifinals and TCU's 84th-ranked Slah Mbarek (5-7, 6-4, 6-0) in the championship match. His victory over Mbarek tied the team score at three apiece as the Lobos secured the win and tournament title with a win at the No. 3 position. At No. 1 doubles, Parkes teamed with Miles Bugby to defeat Air Force's Brett Rodgers and Taylor Soster (8-2) and UNLV's 75th-ranked duo of Elliot Wronski and Luca Barlocchi (8-3), before falling to TCU's 40th-ranked tandem of Slah Mbarek and Kriegler Brink (9-7) in the finals.

Harkins, a senior from Palos Verdes, Calif., went a combined 6-0 in singles and doubles play as 29th-ranked TCU won the 2009 MWC Women's Tennis tournament title with wins over Colorado State (4-0), No. 67 Utah (4-1) and 42nd-ranked UNLV (4-1). At No. 1 singles, Harkins tallied a straight set victory over Colorado State's Laura Neal (6-0, 6-1) in the quarterfinals, then moved down to No. 2 singles for straight set victories over Utah's Erin Monson (6-3, 6-2) and UNLV's Nikol Dimitrova (6-3, 6-2) in the semifinal and championship match, respectively. At No. 1 doubles, Harkins teamed with Anna Sydorska (No. 24 doubles team in the nation) to defeat CSU's Laura Neal and Lauren Strasburger (8-2), Utah's Andrea Maughan and Erin Monson (8-5) and UNLV's Kristina Nedeltcheva and Katy Williams (8-3).