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MWC Tennis Players of the Week
TCU's Radu Barbu, Kewa Nichols and New Mexico's Ola Abou-Zekry honored.
April 19, 2007 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- TCU's Radu Barbu was named the Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, while TCU's Kewa Nichols and New Mexico's Ola Abou-Zekry shared MWC Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors.
Barbu went 5-0 overall last weekend as the Horned Frogs swept league opponents Air Force, UNLV and No. 46 New Mexico to secure a No. 2 seed in the upcoming MWC Championship. Barbu went 3-0 in singles play at the No. 2 position to record an unblemished 6-0 mark in conference play this season.
The senior from Pitesti, Romania, opened the week with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Air Force's Keith Cronican. Against UNLV, Barbu clinched the match with a come-from-behind victory over Slavko Bijelica, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3), as the Frogs edged the Rebels, 4-3. The following day, Barbu came from behind once again to record a critical win over Graeme Kassautzki, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to tie the match with New Mexico, setting the stage for the upset over the 46th-ranked Lobos. Barbu sports a 10-2 record in singles play this season and is currently riding a seven-match winning streak.
Barbu also went 2-0 in doubles play with senior Christopher Biro at the No. 2 position, recording a pair of 8-3 victories over Brett Rodgers and Austin Francis from Air Force and Wesley Burrows and Jonathan Hooper from UNLV.
Nichols went 6-0 overall last week as the Horned Frogs posted consecutive shutout victories over Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming to clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title and a No. 2 seed for the upcoming MWC Championship. Nichols extended her singles winning streak to 12 matches, including a perfect 8-0 mark in MWC play.
A junior, Nichols recorded straight-set victories at No. 4 singles over CSU's Anette Pohjalainen (6-1, 6-3), Air Force's Kelly Morgan (6-3, 6-1) and Wyoming's Andrea House (6-3, 6-2). The Austin, Texas, native holds a dual singles mark of 19-5 for the season.
Nichols also pushed her doubles mark to 16-7, teaming up with senior Ana Cetnik at the No. 2 doubles position over the weekend to notch a 3-0 record. The duo opened with an 8-2 win versus CSU's Pohjalainen and Lauren Strasburger before registering an 8-4 triumph over Air Force's Morgan and Karissa Walker and an 8-3 victory versus Wyoming's Corina Lazar and Michelle Brown.
Abou-Zekry also went 6-0 overall last weekend in outings against Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force to help New Mexico earn a No. 5 seed for the MWC Championship.
A native of Cairo, Egypt, Abou-Zekry limited each of her three singles opponents to no more than five points while recording straight-set victories at the No. 1 position over CSU's Emily Kirchem (6-1, 6-3), Wyoming's Karolina Rowinski (6-2, 6-1) and Air Force's Christine Abayan (6-3, 6-2).
Abou-Zekry went undefeated in doubles action as well, pairing with fellow junior Jennifer Ryba for a trio of wins at the No. 2 spot against CSU's Pohjalainen and Strasburger (8-2), Wyoming's Lazar and Brown (8-3) and Air Force's Morgan and Walker (8-5).
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