|
|
|
UNLV's Malec and Utah's Payne-Dorney Share McLeodUSA Women's Tennis Weekly Honor
Malec upsets defending national champ and #1 doubles team, while Payne-Dorney upsets three-ranked players. (4/5)
April 5, 2000
Colorado Springs, Colo. Following an impressive week of women¹s tennis, the McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Women¹s Tennis Player of the Week award is shared by seniors Katarina Malec from UNLV and Megan Payne-Dorny from Utah. Ranked No. 37 in the nation in singles, Malec claimed her fourth player of the week honor of the season after going undefeated in the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles play. She started the week with a straight-set (6-1, 6-2) win over San Diego State¹s Whitney Wells on April 1. Malec teamed with Marianne Bakken in doubles to defeat SDSU¹s team of Wells and Laura Aguero, 8-4, despite the Rebels losing the match, 6-3, to the No. 27-ranked Aztecs. Playing at No. 74-ranked University of San Diego on Apr. 2, Malec helped propel the Rebels to a 5-4 victory with an upset of No. 4 Zuzana Lesenarova in singles and a tiebreak win over the top-ranked doubles team in the nation. In singles, Malec claimed the first set 6-4, before Lesenarova retired in the second for the default victory. The defending NCAA champion, Lesenarova has won a record five career Collegiate Grand Slam singles titles and ranked No. 1 in the nation until recently. Ranked No. 34 in doubles, Malec and Bakken clinched the team victory as they upset the nation's top-ranked pair of Lesenorva and Katarina Valkyova, 9-8. With the match tied at four, Malec and Bakken forced a tiebreaker that they won 7-4 to clinch the team victory. Following this week¹s victories, Malec improved to 31-5 on the season and is tied for the fifth-most singles wins in UNLV history. In doubles, Malec and Bakken have won their last 11 matches and boast an 18-1 record in duals this spring. Malec has not lost a set in either singles or doubles since February 25. Payne-Dorny upset three ranked singles opponents and accounted for Utah¹s only points as the Utes lost three matches to ranked teams by identical, 8-1, scores. In the third meeting of the season with BYU¹s No. 58-ranked Eline Chiew, Payne-Dorny claimed her first career win over Chiew 6-3, 7-6(3) on Mar. 31. Playing at No. 19 Florida State on Apr. 3, Payne-Dorny rallied to upset No. 85 Alida Gallovits 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The following day at No. 9 Florida, she rallied from down a set again to upset No. 25 Whitney Laiho 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. In doubles action, Payne-Dorny teamed with three different partners during the week, but could not claim a win. Payne-Dorny improved to 19-10 overall in singles this season and is 12-4 in duals, all in the No. 1 slot. This is her second player of the week award of the season.
McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Women¹s Tennis Players of the Week: Feb. 2 Katarina Malec (Sr.)
UNLV, Feb. 9 Megan Payne-Dorny (Sr.) Utah, Feb. 16 Katarina Malec (Sr.) UNLV, Feb. 21 Whitney
Wells (Jr.) SDSU, Mar. 1 Kim Kelly (Sr.) BYU, Mar. 8 Dominika Gerwin (Sr.) UNM, Mar. 15
Melanie Roberts (Sr.) Wyoming, Mar. 22 Katarina Malec (Sr.) UNLV, Mar. 29 Katey Becker (So.)
SDSU, Apr. 5 Katarina Malec (Sr.) UNLV and Megan Payne-Dorny (Sr.) Utah.
|
|
