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 MEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kody Pearson • So. • Tulsa • Sydney, Australia
Pearson went 2-0 in singles play and won his only doubles match of the week to help Tulsa to a pair of wins against Mercer to start the 2020 spring season. Playing at No. 1 singles, Pearson was a three-set winner in the first match against Mercer, scoring a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 victory against the No. 46-ranked player nationally. Pearson went on to a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 1 in the nightcap and paired with Connor Di Marco for a 6-3 victory at No. 2 doubles. Pearson finished the fall season at No. 98 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings.
 
AROUND THE AMERICAN

The American in the Oracle/ITA Rankings
Men’s Singles (final fall ranking)

	22	Gabriel Decamps	UCF
	29	Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi	UCF
	32	Ewan Moore	Tulane
	47	Dane Esses	Tulane
	90	Hamish Stewart	Tulane
	98	Kody Pearson	Tulsa
	103	Diogo Marques	ECU
	108	Bogdan Pavel	UCF
	121	Chase Ferguson	USF
	122	Orel Ovil	Wichita State

 
Men’s Doubles (final fall ranking)

	6	Gabriel Decamps/Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi	UCF
	21	David Stevenson/Oscar Cutting	Memphis

 
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.
 
 
MEN’S TENNIS UPDATE
UCF (1-1) split its season-opening matches as the Knights were 6-1 winners against Mercer before falling to No. 1 Florida by the same score. The team point against the Gators came from Bogdan Pavel at No. 5 singles, who was a 1-6, 6-3, 13-11 winner against former Josh Goodger, the former Tulsa standout and the 2018 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. The Knights head to Los Angeles this weekend for the ITA Kick-Off. They will face No. 24 San Diego Saturday and will meet either No. 11 UCLA or San Diego State Sunday.
 
UConn (1-1) split a pair of dual matches in the fall and begins its spring season Saturday against St. John’s. Christian Appleman will oversee the Huskies’ men’s program after serving as an assistant at Yale for the last 15 seasons.
 
ECU will begin its spring season Friday against North Carolina Central. Diogo Marques was ranked No. 103 in the final Oracle/ITA rankings of the 2019 fall season.
 
Memphis (0-2) dropped a pair of road matches to Big Ten opponents to start the season as the Tigers fell 4-3 to Indiana and 4-2 to Northwestern. David Stevenson provided singles wins in both matches from the No. 4 position.
 
USF (3-0), the 2019 American Athletic Conference champion, is off to a 3-0 start to the 2020 season after the Bulls scored wins against Florida Gulf Coast (7-0), East Tennessee State (6-1) and Florida Atlantic (7-0). Chase Ferguson, the 2019 American Freshman of the Year, has led the way from the No. 1 singles spot with three wins, and is ranked No. 121 in the final fall Oracle/ITA rankings. The Bulls head to Gainesville, Florida, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend as they face Fresno State Saturday and will take on either Florida or Temple Sunday.
 
SMU (3-1) won its first three matches to start the season as the Mustangs swept a doubleheader against Prairie View A&M and took a 5-2 decision against Northern Colorado. The winning streak ended with a 6-1 setback to No. 2 Texas, the 2019 NCAA champion. The team point against Texas came from the doubles round, capped by a win by Caleb Chakravarthi/Tomas Vaise against the Longhorns’ tandem which was ranked No. 4 nationally. The Mustangs will split their squad for a pair of matches Saturday. The Mustangs will visit Lamar at noon ET and will host UT Tyler at 6 p.m. ET.
 
Temple (0-0) will open its 2020 season in Gainesville, Florida, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Owls will face top-ranked Florida Saturday and will take on either USF or Fresno State Sunday .
 
Tulane (0-0), which has made four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, begins its quest for a fifth straight bid as the Green Wave opens its season with a doubleheader against Jackson State Wednesday. Tulane will then take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Palo Alto, California, with a Saturday match against No. 12 Stanford and a Sunday pairing against either No. 14 California or Miami (Fla.). Tulane has three players in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings, as Ewan Moore is No. 32, Dane Esses is No. 47 and Hamish Stewart is No. 90.
 
Tulsa (4-0) has swept both ends of a pair of doubleheaders to start the 2020 season. The Golden Hurricane took both ends of a twinbill against Mercer, winning 6-1 and 4-0, before registering a sweep against Bryant, the 2019 Northeast Conference champion, taking both matches against the Bulldogs 6-1. Stefan Hampe has gone 4-0 in singles play to lead Tulsa, which heads to Columbus, Ohio for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Tulsa will face Utah Saturday and will meet either No. 6 Ohio State or Purdue Sunday.
 
Wichita State (1-1) split a pair of dual matches to open the season as the Shockers fell 4-3 to Denver before bouncing back with a 6-1 victory against Omaha. Murkel Dellien, Elio Lago and Marius Frosa are all off to 2-0 singles starts in dual matches for the Shockers, who head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for weekend matches against Middle Tennessee, Arkansas and Drake.
 
This Week In The American

MEN
Friday, January 24	North Carolina Central at ECU	2:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 25	USF vs. Fresno State (Gainesville, Fla.)	11 a.m.
	SMU at Lamar	Noon
	Memphis at Virginia	1 p.m.
	Tulsa vs. Utah (Columbus, Ohio)	1 p.m.
	Temple at Florida	2 p.m.
	Wichita State at Arkansas	6 p.m.
	UT Tyler at SMU	6 p.m.
	Tulsa vs. Purdue (Columbus, Ohio)	TBD
	Tulane at Stanford	TBD
	UCF vs. San Diego (Los Angeles, Calif.)	TBD
	Wichita State vs. Middle Tennessee (Fayetteville, Ark.)	TBD
Sunday, January 26	Wichita State vs. Drake (Fayetteville, Ark.)	Noon
	UNC Asheville at ECU	Noon
	UCF vs. UCLA/San Diego State (Los Angeles, Calif.)	TBD
	Memphis vs. NC State/Utah State (Charlottesville, Va.)	TBD
	Tulsa vs. Ohio State/Purdue (Columbus, Ohio)	TBD
	Temple vs. Fresno State/USF (Gainesville, Fla.)	TBD
	USF vs. Florida/Temple (Gainesville, Fla.)	TBD
	Tulane vs. California/Miami (Fla.) (Palo Alto, Calif.)	TBD
	UConn vs. St. John’s (West Point, N.Y.)	TBD

 
 
all times Eastern

 
Last Week’s Results              

MEN
Saturday, January 11	USF 7, Florida Gulf Coast 0
Sunday, January 12	Tulsa 6, Mercer 1
	Tulsa 4, Mercer 0
Thursday, January 16	SMU 7, Prairie View A&M 0
	SMU 7, Prairie View A&M 0
Friday, January 17	Indiana 4, Memphis 3
	UCF 6, Mercer 1
Saturday, January 18	SMU 5, Northern Colorado 2
	USF 6, East Tennessee State 1
	Denver 4, Wichita State 3
	Texas 6, SMU 1
Sunday, January 19	USF 7, Florida Atlantic 0
	Northwestern 4, Memphis 2
	Florida 6, UCF 1
	Wichita State 6, Omaha 1
	Tulsa 6, Bryant 1
	Tulsa 6, Bryant 1