Tennis Weekly Honors: Feb. 15
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Co-Players of the Week
Alafia Ayeni, Kentucky
Ayeni, notched two singles wins over nationally ranked opponents to help Kentucky to a perfect 2-0 week with 4-3 wins over ACC foes Louisville and Duke. He defeated Louisville's #26 Fabien Salle, 7-5, 7-6(5) and then took down Duke's #6 Garrett Johns, 7-5, 6-3. All six of the graduate-transfers singles wins this season have come in straight sets. He currently owns a three-match win streak.
James Story, South Carolina
Story, went 4-0 this past weekend. He defeated Georgia Tech's Rohan Sachdev 6-4, 6-4 and Wake Forest's Karimov, 6-4, 6-3 in singles. In doubles, he and partner Jake Beasley defeated Chopra/Shokry of Georgia Tech, 7-6(6) and Wake Forest's Tacchi/Karimov, 7-5. Story remains undefeated on the season in both singles and doubles. He has clinched four doubles points this season, including the doubles point versus Wake Forest. He is on an eight-match singles winning streak and 11-match doubles win streak.
Freshman of the Week
Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State
Jovanovic, is riding a 13-match singles win streak that dates back to the fall, the longest of any Bulldog since 2019. Jovanovic tops the team in wins and is now 10-0 in dual match play in singles and 16-2 overall on the year. He and doubles partner Gregor Ramskogler are now 7-2 during dual match play. The duo gave the Bulldogs their first doubles win of the day at No. 15 Florida State, defeating Joseph Dous-Karpenschif and Andreja Petrovic 6-3. Jovanovic also made short work of FSU's Loris Pourroy 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 2 position to give MSU its first singles victory to go up 2-0. He is tied for the team lead having clinched three matches this season.
WOMEN
Player of the Week
Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia
Vidmanova, went 3-0 on the week, helping guide No. 5 Georgia to a runner-up finish at the 2023 ITA National Team Indoor Championship. On the opening day of the tournament, No. 40 Vidmanova provided the first singles win of the day for the Bulldogs against sixth-ranked Stanford, defeating No. 41 Alexandra Yepifanova 6-1, 7-6(6). In Georgia's quarterfinal match against No. 15 Oklahoma, Vidmanova also provided the first singles point after topping No. 96 Carmen Corley 6-2, 7-6(7). Vidmanova picked up her final win of the week in the semifinals against 14th-ranked Iowa State in a straight-set win over No. 53 Ange Oby Kajuru. Vidmanova, a native of Prague, Czech Republic is a team-best 19-3 on the season, including six wins against ranked opponents and is 7-1 in her previous 10 matches.
Freshman of the Week
Mia Kupres, Texas A&M
Kupres, played a key role in the team's trip to the semifinals at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Kupres in the opening round secured her fifth win of the season which put her on a five-win streak as she remained undefeated. Kupres defeated No. 93 Abigail Desiatnikov (6-3, 3-6, 6-2), securing the first ranked win of her collegiate career, this win also clinched the match for A&M as it defeated the Toreros (4-0) to advance to the quarterfinals. Kupres continued her impressive performances in the quarterfinals versus No. 11 Ohio State, she secured her sixth straight win of the season versus the Buckeyes Kolie Allen (6-2, 6-0). In the semifinals the Aggies ran into North Carolina, setting up a top-three matchup. Kupres again put on an extremely notable performance versus an experienced graduate transfer No. 12 Abbey Forbes, she held an advantage in the third set 6-1, 6-7(3), 5-4 before the match was left unfinished due to the match being clinched. Through her opening six weeks in collegiate tennis Kupres holds a perfect combined record in singles and doubles of 10-0.