Feb. 26, 2013

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - VCU's Max Wennakoski and Dylan McCloskey have been named the Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Tennis Performer and Rookie Performer of the Week, respectively, the league announced Tuesday. Duquesne's Judy Li and George Washington's Leah Pascarella earned Women's Tennis Co-Performers of the Week honors, while VCU's Cindy Chala was honored as the Women's Tennis Rookie Performer of the Week. The student-athletes were honored for matches played Feb. 18-24.

MEN'S TENNIS PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Max Wennakoski, VCU
Senior | Helsinki, Finland

ITA's 15th ranked national singles player, Wennakoski, went 3-0 last week, defeating Bryan Welnetz of Penn State (6-3, 6-2) and No. 94 Tsvetan Mihov of South Carolina (6-3, 7-5) from the number one spot. The senior from Helsinki, Finland, improved to 10-1 in singles play this spring, while helping the Rams to a four-match win streak and a 10-3 record overall. In doubles play, Wennakoski added an 8-7 victory over South Carolina's Kyle Koch and Harry Menzies.

MEN'S TENNIS ROOKIE PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Dylan McCloskey, VCU
Freshman | Perth, Australia

McCloskey earned Rookie Performer of the Week honors after posting two doubles wins and his third consecutive singles victory this season. The duo of McCloskey and Alexis Heugas, ranked 39th nationally, defeated the number one pair from Penn State (8-2) and South Carolina (8-4). McCloskey has not lost a singles match this spring (3-0), adding the third straight set win last week over PSU's Roman Trkulja (7-6, 6-1).

WOMEN'S TENNIS CO-PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Judy Li, Duquesne
Senior | Toronto, Ontario

In the team's only match of the week, Duquesne's Li picked up wins at the number one singles spot and the number two doubles spot, propelling the Dukes to a 4-3 win against Toledo. Li played a perfect singles match, defeating Chrissy Coffman without surrendering a game (6-0, 6-0). In her doubles match, Li and teammate Alexa Miller posted an 8-3 victory over Lexy Pitt and Pia Rygh.

WOMEN'S TENNIS CO-PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Leah Pascarella, George Washington
Junior | Frankfort, Ill.

Pascarella recorded two victories in her only match last week, lifting the Colonials to a 5-2 decision over UMBC. From the number one singles spot, Pascarella dropped a single game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 win against Isabel Aldunate. In doubles action, Pascarella teamed up with Mimi Hamling for an 8-1 victory over UMBC's best pair, Julia Sauer and Josefin Strange-Jonsson, improving to a 4-0 record when playing together this spring.

WOMEN'S TENNIS ROOKIE PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Cindy Chala, VCU
Freshman | St. Cloud, France

Chala went 3-1 overall last week, picking up two doubles victories with partner Josefin Hjertquist against Virginia Tech (8-2) and Penn State (8-1), both from the number two spot. In singles play, the rookie defeated Virginia Tech's Isel Martinez-Marcos in straight sets (6- 2, 6-1) before dropping a match in three sets to 36th ranked Petra Januskova of Penn State (6-2, 3-6, 6-3). Chala improved to 6-3 in singles action this spring from the top spot for VCU, with all three losses coming to players ranked nationally in the top 36.