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 27.
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Martina Okalova • Sr. • Tulsa • Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Okalova repeats as The American’s Player of the Week after she defeated a ranked opponent in singles and went 2-0 in doubles, including a win against a nationally ranked tandem, as the Golden Hurricane split a pair of matches in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Durham, North Carolina. Okalova, who is ranked No. 52 in singles and No. 40 in doubles, scored a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles in a 4-3 victory against Mississippi State, defeating the No. 84-ranked player nationally. She paired with Vera Ploner for a 6-0 doubles win against the Bulldogs, knocking off the No. 43-ranked tandem, before scoring a 7-5 doubles win in a 4-0 loss to No. 5 Duke. Okalova improved her singles record to 6-0 in dual matches, while the Okalova/Ploner doubles pairing has also gone 6-0 in 2020.
 
 
AROUND THE AMERICAN
 
The American in the Oracle/ITA Rankings
Women’s Team (through January 22)

12

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 (2-1) moved up to No. 12 in the Oracle/ITA rankings in advance of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, where the Knights split a pair of matches in Ann Arbor, Michigan. UCF claimed a 4-3 win against Utah to advance to the championship match, but No. 15 Michigan came away with 4-2 win in the final. Marie Mattel won both of her singles matches over the weekend to improve to 3-0 at the No. 3 spot. The Knights begin a stretch of five straight home matches this week with a Friday contest against Florida State and a Sunday match against No. 18 Texas A&M.
 
Cincinnati (2-1) fell 5-2 at Kentucky in the Bearcats’ lone match from last week. Cincinnati, which had fallen to the Wildcats by a 7-0 score in each of the first six meetings, saw Emma Miceli come away with a third-set tiebreaker at No. 4 singles to give the Bearcats their first team point in the all-time series. Miceli needs two singles wins to become the 12th player in program history to reach 100 career victories. Cincinnati hosts Miami (Ohio) Friday before the Bearcats visit Dayton Sunday.
 
UConn (0-0) begins its spring season Sunday 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 (1-2) fell 5-1 to Virginia Commonwealth in its first match of the week, but the Pirates answered with a 4-3 win against James Madison to break into the win column for the first time in 2020. ECU trailed James Madison at three different points during the match, but the Pirates rallied behind three-set wins by Minette Van Vreden and Hanna Axelsson to take the victory. The Pirates are idle until a Feb. 8 match at UNC Greensboro.
 
Houston (0-1) was idle last week. The Cougars return to action Friday for their home opener against McNeese and will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sunday.
 
Memphis (1-2) did not play last week. The Tigers are back in action Sunday at Auburn.
 
USF (2-2) dropped a pair of matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Palo Alto, California, as the Bulls fell 4-0 to Stanford in the opener before Denver took the consolation match by the same score. USF returns to Tampa for a Sunday match against North Florida.
 
SMU (1-0) was idle last week. The Mustangs are back in action with a pair of matches Saturday against Colorado State and McNeese.
 
Temple (0-2) did not play last week. The Owls, who went 8-1 at home last season, play their 2020 home-opener Wednesday against Drexel.
 
Tulane (4-0) picked up two more wins to start the season as the Green Wave scored 4-0 victories against Southern and Southeastern Louisiana last week. Lauren Gish, Adelaide Lavery and Christina Sisti have all gone 3-0 in singles play to lead Tulane, while the doubles tandem of Gish and Mackenzie Clark is 4-0. Tulane heads to LSU Friday and returns home to face UAB Sunday.
 
Tulsa (6-1) reeled off its sixth straight win to start the season as the Golden Hurricane topped Mississippi State 4-3 in the first match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Durham, North Carolina. Tulsa fell to No. 5 Duke 4-0 in the championship match, however, to end the winning streak. The doubles tandem of Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner extended its winning streak to six matches with two wins over the weekend, while Okalova has a 6-0 singles mark. Tulsa’s lone match this week is a Saturday contest against No. 10 Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
 
Wichita State (1-2) was idle last week. The Shockers return to action with a Friday matchup against Kansas State before a Sunday showdown against Arkansas