PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winner of its men’s tennis honors for the month of October.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Majed Kilani • Sr. • Tulsa • Tunis, Tunisia
Kilani went 7-2 in singles play in October, scoring three wins against nationally ranked opponents on his way to the round of 16 of the ITA All-American Championship and a runner-up finish at the ITA Central Regoinal. He registered straight-set wins against the No. 14 and No. 31-ranked players in his first two matches at the All-American Championship, while he won his first five matches to reach the final of the Central Regional. Kilani, whose loss in the All-American Championship came to the nation’s No. 2-ranked player, qualified for this week’s ITA National Fall Championships in Sunrise, Ariz.
AROUND THE AMERICAN
Three American Athletic Conference men’s players have been selected to the main draw of the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz. Tulane’s Luis Erlenbusch and Ewan Moore joined Tulsa’s Majed Kilani in the 64-man singles bracket as play began Wednesday. Erlenbusch and Moore both won their respective first-round matches to reach the round of 32, while Kilani dropped a three-set battle in his opening match.
Tulsa’s tandem of Vera Ploner/Martina Okalova joined Wichita State’s pair of Marta Bellucco/Fatima Bizhukova in the doubles bracket of the ITA Fall National Championship. Both tandems from The American fell in their opening matches of the main draw.
Six men’s players from The American are ranked in singles play to start the 2018-19 season.
USF senior Alberto Barroso-Campos is the highest-ranked of The American's singles players at No. 35. Barroso-Campos earned all-conference honors in both singles and doubles for the Bulls, who finished as the runner-up in the American Athletic Conference Championship. Tulsa's Majed Kilani is ranked No. 39 in the preseason ranking, while the Golden Hurricane's Joshua Goodger is ranked No. 55. Both players were all-conference selections in singles last season.
Tulane, which won the 2018 American Athletic Conference title, had three players in the preseason rankings. Junior Ewan Moore is No. 60, senior Tyler Schick is No. 103 and sophomore Hamish Stewart is No. 121.
The preseason doubles rankings list Tulane's tandem of Ewan Moore/Akos Kotorman at No. 36 nationally, while Tulsa's duo of Joshua Goodger/Jarod Hing is No. 56.
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be held in April at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The women’s championship takes place April 17-20, while the men’s championship will be played April 18-21.