PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of its weekly men’s and women’s tennis honors for the week-ending January 20.
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Martina Okalova • Sr. • Tulsa • Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Okalova has helped Tulsa to a 5-0 start to the 2020 spring season by going a combined 9-0 in singles and doubles play from the No. 1 positions. She has won all five of her singles matches in straight sets, including three consecutive 6-0 second sets. Okalova has paired with Vera Ploner to go 4-0 at No. 1 doubles. Okalova is ranked No. 52 in singles in the final Oracle/ITA rankings of the fall season, while the Okalova/Ploner tandem is No. 40 in doubles.
 
 
AROUND THE AMERICAN
 
The American in the Oracle/ITA Rankings
Women’s Team (through January 8)

13

UCF

 
Women’s Singles (final fall ranking)

	34	Rebeka Stolmar	UCF
	40	Valeriya Zeleva	UCF
	52	Martina Okalova	Tulsa
	54	Marrie Mattel	UCF

 
Women’s Doubles (final fall ranking)

	3	Rebeka Stolmar/Marie Mattel	UCF
	11	Valeriya Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova	UCF
	40	Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner	Tulsa
	53	Marta Bellucco/Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva	Wichita State

 
The 2020 American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be held in April at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The women’s championship takes place April 15-18, while the men’s championship will be played April 16-19.
 
 
WOMEN’S TENNIS UPDATE
UCF (1-0), which is ranked No. 13 in the presason Oracle/ITA rankings, had an easy time with Cornell in a 7-0 win to open the 2020 season Saturday. The Knights took all six singles matches in straight sets, including 6-0, 6-0 wins by Evgeniya Levashova at No. 1 and Marrie Mattel at No. 3. The Knights have three players - No. 34 Rebeka Stolmar, No. 40 Valeriya Zeleva and No. 54 Mattel - the final Oracle/ITA singles rankings of the 2019 fall season, while Levashova is a transfer from Pepperdine who was ranked as high as No. 11 in singles and No. 1 in doubles last season and was the 2018 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. UCF heads to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend as the Knights will face Utah Saturday and either No. 14 Michigan or Ole Miss Sunday.
 
Cincinnati (2-0) has won its first two dual matches of the 2020 season as the Bearcats took a 7-0 win against Army and a 5-2 victory against Akron over the weekend. Caroline Morton has led the way with a 2-0 mark at No. 2 singles. The Bearcats visit Kentucky Tuesday before playing at home for the first time Friday against Miami (Ohio).
 
UConn (0-0) begins its spring season Feb. 2 against Bryant in Manchester, Connecticut. The Huskies will field a young team in 2020, with only one senior and one junior on the nine-player roster.
 
ECU (0-1) saw a streak of 22 consecutive regular-season matches come to an end as the Priates fell 7-0 to North Carolina State in their 2020 season-opener. ECU, which went 22-3 last year, had not lost a regular-season dual match since Jan. 23, 2019, setback to North Carolina. The Pirates play two road matches this week - a Friday contest at Virginia Commonwealth and a Saturday matchup at James Madison.
 
Houston (0-1) fell 6-1 to No. 18 Texas A&M to start the 2020 dual match season. The lone team point for the Cougars came from Phonexay Chitdara at No. 4 singles, who was a three-set winner against the Aggies. The Cougars are off until next Friday, when they play their home opener against McNeese.
 
Memphis (1-2) dropped its first two matches to start the season, falling 5-2 to Arkansas and 4-1 to Ole Miss, before the Tigers rebounded for a 4-0 victory against UT Martin. Lina Hohnhold won a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories at No. 6 singles Monday, scoring wins against Ole Miss and UT Martin without dropping a game. The Tigers are idle until a Feb. 2 match at Auburn.
 
USF (2-0) is off to a 2-0 start to the season as the Bulls scored a 7-0 win against Cornell and a 5-2 decision against Stetson last week. The Bulls have gone unbeaten at the top three positions on the singles ladder as Amelie Boy, Laura Perello and Evelyne Tiron have all gone 2-0 in dual matches. USF will take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Palo Alto, Calif., with a Saturday match against No. 1 Stanford and a Sunday contest against either Denver or Washington State .
 
SMU (1-0) made a winner of first-year head coach Jeff Nevolo in his Mustangs debut as the Mustangs took a 6-1 victory against Abilene Christian. Claudia Bartolome and Jackie Nylander were winners in both singles and doubles against Abilene Christian. SMU is off until a pair of matches Feb. 1 against Colorado State and McNeese.
 
Temple (0-2) is looking for its first dual match win of the season after the Owls dropped a 7-0 decision at Old Dominion before falling 4-0 at Virginia Commonwealth. The Owls are back in action next Wednesday against Drexel.
 
Tulane (2-0) opened its 2020 season by taking both ends of a doubleheader against Alcorn State. The Green Wave won the first match 4-0 before taking a 5-0 win in the nightcap. Christina Sisti won a pair of straight-set decisions to lead the way, dropping only two games in the two matches. Tulane hosts Southeastern Louisiana Saturday and entertains Jackson State Sunday.
 
Tulsa (5-0) won all three of its matches at the Hurricane Invitational last weekend to improve its record to 5-0 to start the year. After opening the season last week with a doubleheader sweep of Mercer, the Golden Hurricane topped Louisiana Tech (4-0), Montana State (7-0) and Wyoming (6-1) to remain unbeaten. Martina Okalova, who is ranked No. 52 in the final fall Oracle/ITA rankings, is off to a 5-0 start at No. 1 singles and has joined Vera Ploner for a 4-0 mark at No. 1 doubles to copmrise the No. 40 doubles tandem. Ploner has likewise gone 5-0 in singles, playing at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. Tulsa will head to Durham, North Carolina, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend as the Golden Hurricane faces Mississippi State Saturday. Tulsa will face either No. 5 Duke or Kansas State Sunday.
 
Wichita State (1-2) opened the 2020 season with a 6-1 win against Abilene Christian, but Shockers fell in back-to-back matches against ranked opponents as No. 11 Oklahoma State was a 6-1 winner and No. 19 Kansas took a 6-1 decision. Marta Bellucco has gone 2-1 at No. 5 singles to lead the Shockers, who are off until a Jan. 31 matchup against Kansas State.
 
 

 
This Week In The American

WOMEN
Tuesday, January 21	Cincinnati at Kentucky	5 p.m.
Friday, January 24	ECU at Virginia Commonwealth	1 p.m.
Saturday, January 25	ECU at James Madison	10 a.m.
	Tulsa vs. Mississippi State (Durham, N.C.)	10 a.m.
	USF at Stanford	11 a.m.
	Southern at Tulane	1 p.m.
	UCF vs. Utah (Ann Arbor, Mich.)	2 p.m.
	Southeastern Louisiana at Tulane	4:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 26	Jackson State at Tulane	1 p.m.
	Tulsa vs. Duke/Kansas State (Durham, N.C.)	TBD
	UCF vs. Michigan/Ole Miss (Ann Arbor, Mich.)	TBD
	USF vs. Denver/Washington State (Palo Alto, Calif.)	TBD

 
all times Eastern

 
Last Week’s Results              

WOMEN
Saturday, January 11	Wichita State 6, Abilene Christian 1
	Oklahoma State 6, Wichita State 1
Sunday, January 12	Tulsa 7, Mercer 0
	Tulsa 4, Mercer 0
Friday, January 17	USF 7, Cornell 0
Saturday, January 18	Cincinnati 7, Army 0
	Tulsa 4, Louisiana Tech 0
	Old Dominion 7, Temple 0
	Arkansas 5, Memphis 2
	UCF 7, Cornell 0
Sunday, January 19	Tulsa 7, Montana State 0
	Tulsa 6, Wyoming 1
	Cincinnati 5, Akron 2
	Tulane 4, Alcorn State 0
	Texas A&M 6, Houston 1
	Kansas 6, Wichita State 1
	SMU 6, Abilene Christian 1
	Tulane 5, Alcorn State 0
Monday, January 20	Ole Miss 4, Memphis 1
	USF 5, Stetson 2
	Memphis 4, UT Martin 0
	NC State 7, ECU 0