Four Lone Star Conference tennis teams were undefeated last week, including Midwestern State's 28th-ranked men's team, which clinched at least a share of the conference title. Cameron's eighth-ranked women's team, St. Mary's 23rd-ranked women's team and UAFS' men's were also undefeated.
MSU maintained its undefeated LSC record to clinch at least a share of the men's title and stay in top spot in the league rankings. UT Tyler is in second place at 5-1, followed by CU and StMU at 4-2. StMU's women's team moved into a tie for first, with CU heading into the final week of the regular season. Angelo State is third at 6-1 with two LSC games remaining.
LSC men's and women's teams will play a single round-robin schedule, playing each league opponent. Each sport's LSC champion(s) will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in conference matches.
LSC Men's and Women's Tennis Championships
Championship Central: Men's Tennis | Women's Tennis
The 2022 LSC Championship will be played at the Arlington Tennis Center in Arlington, Texas, on April 28-29-30. The quarterfinal rounds are scheduled for Thursday, April 28, followed by the semifinals on Friday, April 29 and the championship matches on Saturday, April 30.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
MEN’S
Thomas Cardona, Cameron, FR, Sports and Exercise Science, Medellin, Colombia, Cibercolegio UCN
Cardona increased his winning streak to 14 with wins over UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico this past weekend. Playing at two in singles, the 29th ranked player by the ITA won 7-6, 6-0 against the Falcons and 6-1, 7-6 against WNMU to keep his streak alive and move to 15-2 on the season. Cardona and his doubles partner Tomas Almeida also went 2-0 at one doubles this week, winning 7-6 against UTPB and 6-3 against the Mustangs to help CU win both matches 6-1; the duo is 14-4 this spring.
WOMEN’S
Ashley Penshorn, St. Mary’s, SR, Accounting & Data Analytics, Montgomery, Texas, Montgomery HS
Penshorn helped keep the Rattlers in a tie for first place in the Lone Star Conference standings with her 3-0 record at No. 1 singles. She defeated a pair of conference foes in straight sets, defeating No. 48 Anda Ghinga from 28th-ranked Midwestern State 6-2, 6-2 and then won 6-0, 7-5 against the top player from No. 69 DBU. She also won 6-3, 6-1 in a non-conference match at Southwestern on Monday. Playing with two different partners, Penshorn went 2-1 at No. 2 doubles, with the loss came in a tiebreaker. Penshorn is now 15-3 this season and 7-1 in conference singles.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Men’s
F-9 Sebastian Azcui, St. Mary’s
F-16 Chad Nguyen, St. Mary’s
F-23 Jonathan Vega, Western New Mexico
M-4 Kristian Kubik, Cameron
M-9 Tomas Almeida, Cameron
M-16 Thomas Cardona, Cameron
M-23 Thomas Cardona, Cameron (2)
M-30 Alex Martinez Roca, Midwestern State
A-6 Joaquin Bianchi, UT Tyler
A-13 Stefan Andrei, Midwestern State
A-21 Thomas Cardona, Cameron (3)
Women’s
F-9 Callah Preti, St. Mary’s
F-16 Eva Schwartz, Angelo State
F-23 Grace Gaskins, DBU
M-4 Vasilisa Polunova, Cameron
M-9 Anda Ghinga, Midwestern State
M-16 Emilija Visic, Midwestern State
M-23 Anastasia Uspenskaia, Cameron
M-30 Ashley Penshorn, St. Mary’s
A-6 Dianela Rodriguez, Angelo State
A-13 Ramitha Irrinki, Angelo State
A-21 Ashley Penshorn, St. Mary’s (2)
SELECTED OTHER PERFORMANCES
Jonathan Vega, Western New Mexico, went 2-0 at number 1 singles and 1-1 at number 1 doubles over the weekend as the WNMU Mustangs took on Arkansas-Fort Smith and Cameron. Vega defeated Daniel Borrero of UAFS 7-6(3) 6-1 on Friday before defeating number 72nd-ranked Tomas Almeida of Cameron 2-6 6-3 13-11 on Saturday. For doubles, Vega and his partner Javier Romero defeated Wian Van Dyk and Ethan Eddleman of UAFS 6-1 on Friday before falling in a closely contested 6-3 match against Cameron's Almeida/Cardona on Saturday.
Ben Westwick, Midwestern State, went 4-2 this week to help the 38th-ranked Mustangs go 2-1 as a team on the road. Midwestern State and Westwick's only drops this week were to Baylor, the Division I side ranked at No. 4 in the nation. The junior's straight-set defeat of Pablo Munoz Baroja at line three aided in MSU's 6-1 win over St. Mary's, which led to the team's clinching of a share of the Lone Star Conference championship. He followed with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Steven Tibbetts of DIII Southwestern (Texas) in the Mustangs' 6-3 victory. Westwick and Alex Martinez Roca, the No. 3-ranked duo in DII, collected two wins to improve to 17-2 this season in doubles matches.
Anis Ramchane, UAFS, went 4-0 as the Lions defeated Western New Mexico and UT Permian Basin in a pair of home matches. He teamed with Killian Darneaux at number three doubles for 6-3 and 6-0 wins, respectively, and then won 6-2, 6-2 at number two against WNMU and 6-1, 6-1 at number three against UTPB.
Nicolas Llosa, St. Mary's, posted a pair of straight-set wins on the week at No. 6 singles, winning 6-4, 6-2 against Midwestern State and 6-2, 6-1 against DBU to win his fifth straight and improve to 13-1 this spring. He also was 1-1 in doubles action, moving to 11-2 on the season.
Anastasia Uspenskaia, Cameron, continued to boost her resume of being one of the best freshmen in the conference as she went 4-0 last weekend to help the Aggies to a pair of 7-0 sweeps of UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico. Playing at two, where she is 6-1 this season, Uspenskaia came away with quick 6-2, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-2 wins in singles against the Falcons and Mustangs. She and doubles partner Magda Wawrowska, the 25th ranked duo by the ITA, also won in both matches 6-4 and 6-0 to extend their winning streak to 12 matches at the one spot for Cameron.
Ayda Guler, Angelo State, was the Belles' best player this past week, claiming a home win against UT Tyler. Against the Patriots, Guler and Ramitha Irrinki won at line two doubles 6-2 before claiming a 6-2, 6-4 victory at singles line five in the Belles' 7-0 sweep. Against No. 6 Central Oklahoma, the Australian won the Belles' lone point against the Bronchos, winning 6-4, 7-5 at line four.