OGDEN, Utah (April 19, 2016) - The Big Sky Conference has selected the tennis Players of the Week for matches played from April 12-18. Idaho’s Felipe Fonseca was named men’s Player of the Week, while Laura Middel picked up Montana State’s second consecutive honor on the women’s side.
Fonseca, a sophomore from Curitiba, Brazil, helped the Vandals hand league-leading Weber State their first conference loss of the season with an unbeaten performance. He teamed with Odon Barta to take down WSU’s pair of Todd Fought and Jakub Gewert with a 7-5 decision to clinch the early doubles point for Idaho. The Vandals then opened singles play with three straight wins to clinch the match. Fonseca moved up to No. 1 singles this week and made quick work of Gewert, a three-time All-Big Sky selection, winning 6-2, 6-3 to put Idaho up 3-0 in the match. The Vandals moved to 8-2 in league play with the 5-2 win and maintained pressure on Weber State for the top seed in the Big Sky tournament and regular season title.
Coming off a freshman campaign that earned him first team All-Big Sky honors in 2015, Fonseca has followed with a strong sophomore season boasting a 13-5 singles record overall and a 9-1 mark in Big Sky action. He and Barta are 12-6 combined in doubles play with a 7-3 league record. The defending Big Sky champion Vandals sit second in the standings and in good position for a first-round bye with one league match remaining.
Middel, a junior from Hoogezand, Netherlands, capped off a strong regular season in league play while helping the Bobcats seal a conference tournament bid. In a huge matchup against fifth-place Eastern Washington, MSU put together a convincing sweep to finish the regular season 6-5 and clinch the No. 5 seed in the upcoming tournament. Middel teamed with reigning Player of the Week Naomi Holopainen at No. 1 doubles, and overcame a 1-4 deficit to defeat the Eagles’ pair of Janaya Smitha and Faye Worrall 7-5 to finish off a sweep for the doubles point.
In singles play Middel worked past Smith, a second team Big Sky selection last season, for a 6-4, 6-4 decision on court one that clinched the victory for the Bobcats. Middel closed the season with just a pair of conference losses, going 9-2 in singles play and finishing a perfect 11-0 in doubles with Holopainen. The junior went 12-10 overall in singles and was 17-4 with Holopainen in doubles.
Others Nominated:
Men: Josh Goodwin - Idaho State; Tomasz Soltyka - Montana; Kellen Bates - Montana State; Connor Oberle - North Dakota; Ruben Montano - Northern Arizona; Nathan Boniel - Portland State; Sanjay Goswami - Weber State
Women: Faye Worrall - Eastern Washington; Belen Barcenilla - Idaho; Wiebke Boeckman - Idaho State; Lacey Sprinkel - North Dakota; Beth Cotton - Northern Colorado; Dane Vorster - Portland State; Sara Parker - Weber State