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 February 24.
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
LingWei Kong • Jr. • Wichita State • Guangzhou, China
Kong was a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles to help the Shockers to wins against Tulane and UT Arlington. She took a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 2 singles in a 4-1 win against the Green Wave and followed with a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 1 in a 4-0 victory against the Mavericks. Kong has won her last four completed singles matches.


 
AROUND THE AMERICAN
 
The American in the Oracle/ITA Rankings
Women’s Team (Feb. 25 ranking)  

	25	UCF
	33	Tulsa

Women’s Singles (Feb. 18 ranking)

	41	Rebeka Stolmar	UCF
	64	Valeriya Zeleva	UCF
	70	Marie Mattel	UCF
	92	Martina Okalova	Tulsa
	101	Mackenzie Clark	Tulane

Women’s Doubles (Feb. 18 ranking)

	7	Rebeka Stolmar/Marie Mattel	UCF
	28	Marta Bellucco/Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva	Wichita State
	29	Valeriya Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova	UCF
	43	Martina Okalova/Vera Plnoer	Tulsa

 
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 (6-3) dropped its only match of last week as the Knights fell 4-3 to No. 28 Ole Miss. The match was decided on a third-set tiebreaker in the final singles contest, snapping a streak of four consecutive wins for the Knights against teams from the SEC. UCF, which is ranked No. 25 in the Oracle/ITA rankings, faces No. 29 Old Dominion Friday before taking on Tulane Saturday.
 
Cincinnati (6-5) fell in a pair of road matches last week as the Bearcats dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 26 Tennessee and suffered a 4-0 setback at Indiana. Cincinnati looks to get back on track Friday against Wright State.
 
UConn (3-4) split a pair of matches in upstate New York last week as the Huskies fell 6-1 at Cornell before answering with a 7-0 victory at Binghamton. UConn won all six singles matches against Binghamton in straight sets, including a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 from Mireille Moreau. UConn plays two matches on the Houston campus this week, beginning with a Saturday contest against UT Arlington. The Huskies will face the Cougars Sunday.
 
East Carolina (3-5) dropped a pair of matches last week as the Pirates fell 4-3 to Appalachian State and dropped a 4-2 decision to William & Mary. The Pirates look to snap a three-match slide with three matches this week. East Carolina hosts Elon Friday and entertains George Washington and North Carolina Central Saturday.
 
Houston (6-4) fell 7-0 to LSU in its first match from last week, but the Cougars answered with a 7-0 victory against Texas State. The Cougars won five of their six singles matches against Texas State in straight sets as Houston registered its fourth shutout of the season. The Cougars have three contests on this week’s docket. Houston hosts UT Arlington Friday and has a Sunday doubleheader against UConn and UTSA.
 
Memphis (5-4) split a pair of matches in Minneapolis last week as the Tigers fell 4-1 to Minnesota, but responded with a 4-3 victory against Missouri. Monique Woog got the clinching point against Missouri with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 decision at No. 4 singles as Memphis took wins at the No. 3 through No. 6 positions. The Tigers head to Denton, Texas, this weekend, where they will face USF and North Texas.
 
USF (3-4) was idle this week. The Bulls return to action for three matches in the state of Texas this week. USF faces North Texas Thursday, takes on Memphis in Denton Friday, and heads to Fort Worth Sunday to face TCU.
 
SMU (8-3) went 1-2 at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama, last week. The Mustangs fell 4-1 to No. 19 Wake Forest to start the event, but SMU bounced back with a 4-0 win against Arizona Saturday. SMU concluded the weekend with a 4-3 setback to Alabama as the Mustangs nearly erased a 3-0 deficit. SMU is back on the road this week as the Mustangs visit Wichita State Thursday and Kansas State Friday.
 
Temple (4-4) extended its winning streak to four matches with a 5-2 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson to start last week, but Long Island ended the Owls’ run with a 4-1 decision last Saturday. Temple’s only match this week is a Tuesday-morning contest against Eastern Michigan.
 
Tulane (6-5) fell in a pair of matches in Wichita, Kansas, last week as the Green Wave dropped a 4-1 decision to Wichita State before falling 4-2 to UT Arlington. The Green Wave hosts a pair of nationally ranked opponents this weekend as No. 25 UCF comes to New Orleans Saturday before No. 29 Old Dominion visits Sunday.
 
Tulsa (8-3) is ranked No. 33 in the Feb. 25 Oracle/ITA rankings. The Golden Hurricane was idle last week and resumes play Tuesday at No. 50 Kansas.
 
Wichita State (3-8) ended an eight-match slide by taking both ends of a doubleheader against Tulane and UT Arlington last weekend. The Shockers were 4-1 winners against Tulane and 4-0 winners against the Mavericks as LingWei Kong, Esther Thebault and Marta Bellucco won both of their respective singles matches. Wichita State hosts SMU and UMKC in a Thursday doubleheader before the Shockers visit Nebraska Saturday.