PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After leading their teams to a pair of wins over ranked opponents last week, Memphis’ Joe Salisbury and Houston’s Despoina Vogasari were named Tennis Players of the Week Tuesday. Vogasari garnered her second straight Women’s Player of the Week honor, while Salisbury was previously recognized as Men’s Player of the Month in October.
Salisbury had two ranked wins as Memphis had a successful road trip to the Northeast, defeating No. 52 Dartmouth and No. 25 Harvard by 4-3 margins. Against Harvard, Salisbury combined with David O’Hare to top the No. 14 doubles duo in the nation 8-7. He also faced No. 103 Shaun Chaudhuri in singles, with a 3-3 overall score pitting the Tigers’ hopes to his result. Salisbury rolled in the final set, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to give Memphis the win and take his third ranked singles victory of the spring.
Vogasari continued her breakout freshman campaign, defending her claim on Women’s Player of the Week. She improved her singles mark to 8-0 on the spring season and led the Cougars to a pair of ranked wins on the road in the Pacific Northwest. Vogasari, who recently moved into the national rankings at No. 125, was unbeaten at No. 1 singles in a monumental weekend for UH. With wins over No. 40 Washington and No. 59 Washington State, the Cougars defeated their highest ranked opponent since 2008, their highest ranked consecutive victories in school history, and earned back-to-back ranked road wins for the first time since 2001-02.
AROUND THE AMERICAN – MEN’S
Louisville was 1-1 on the week, beating No. 40 Virginia Tech before falling to No. 20 Wake Forest. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer clinched the win against the Hokies with a three-set victory at No. 2 singles.
USF took two losses to ranked foes, but Roberto Cid continued his strong play, defeating San Diego’s No. 78 Clark Spinosa, and teaming with Sasha Gozun to best No. 39 Tsvetan Mihov and Thiago Pinheiro of South Carolina.
Temple earned their first win of the spring season on Saturday with a 5-1 defeat of Fordham. Kristian Marquart went 2-0 in singles play over the weekend.
AROUND THE AMERICAN – WOMEN’S
Louisville faced Rutgers in the team’s conference opener, with the Cardinals winning 6-1 to remain undefeated at home on the season. Lindsey Kayati secured the lone point of that match for Rutgers, and helped Rutgers defeat Cincinnati 4-3 in conference action in their other match this past weekend.
USF went 1-1 on the week, scoring a victory over conference and in-state foe UCF by a 6-1 score. Lorento Alonso played No. 1 singles for the first time this season and went 2-0.
This Week in The American Tennis:
FEBRUARY
Wed. 26 UCF Women vs. Eastern Michigan 2 p.m.
UConn Men vs. Fairfield 2 p.m.
Thurs. 27 UCF Women vs. South Alabama 2 p.m.
USF Women at San Diego State 5 p.m.
Fri. 28 Cincinnati vs. UConn Women
Houston at Texas 3 p.m.
Louisville Men vs. Northwestern 4 p.m.
Louisville Women vs. Eastern Kentucky 11 a.m.
SMU Men at Corpus Christi Invitational
MARCH
Sat. 1 UCF Men vs. Georgia State 11 a.m.
UConn Women vs. James Madison
Houston vs. Tulsa 12 p.m.
Memphis Women vs. Kansas State 10 a.m.
Rutgers at Cornell 12 p.m.
SMU Men at Corpus Christi Invitational
SMU Women vs. Sam Houston State 11 a.m.
SMU Women vs. UTEP 3 p.m.
USF Men at Florida State 12 p.m.
USF Women at San Diego 1 p.m.
Temple at Hampton 12 p.m.
Sun. 2 UCF Men vs. Winthrop 10 a.m.
UCF Women at Furman 12 p.m.
Cincinnati at James Madison
Louisville Men at Oklahoma 1 p.m.
Memphis Women at Columbia 10 a.m.
Temple Men at Maryland Eastern Shore
Temple Women at Old Dominion 12 p.m.
Mon. 3 Memphis Men vs. Louisiana 3 p.m.
All times Eastern