OGDEN, Utah (February 24, 2015) - The Big Sky Conference has selected the tennis Players of the Week for matches played between February 18-24. Sacramento State’s Alina Soltanici is the Women’s Player of the Week. Portland State’s Stuart Tierney is the Men’s Player of the Week.
Soltanici, a sophomore from Chisanau, Moldova, went 2-1 overall this week in her matches on the road against No. 52 Washington and Portland State. Against Washington, Soltanici found herself down a set against No. 80 Elianne Douglas-Miron at No. 1 singles by a score of 6-1. Soltanici rebounded with a 6-3 win to force a tiebreaker. Douglas-Miron took an early 7-4 lead, but Soltanici scored five straight points and won the tiebreaker 10-8.
It was Soltanici's first career win over a ranked opponent, and gave the Hornets their lone point in a 6-1 loss to the ranked Huskies.
On Sunday, the Moldova native faced off against Portland State's No. 1 Dane Vorster. Soltanici breezed through the match, winning 6-2, 6-2. She now has four No. 1 singles wins on the season and helped Big Sky preseason-favorite Sacramento State move to 3-0 in conference play.
Tierney, a senior from Hillsboro, Ore., led the Vikings to a 5-2 win over defending Big Sky Tournament champion Montana with wins at line one singles and doubles Saturday. Tierney clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win at line one with junior Ian Risenhoover, and then put the Vikings on the verge of sealing the dual with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over 2014 All-Big Sky second-team selection Tomasz Soltyka that gave the Vikings’ third point in the match. Tierney’s wins helped the Vikings record their first ever win over the defending champion Grizzlies, as they had been 0-9 all-time
against the Grizzlies before the match.
Tierney, a transfer from Lipscomb University, has earned three straight wins in singles play to improve to 3-2 on the season. He is 4-2 in doubles with Risenhoover and helped the Vikings get their first conference win on the year after dropping matches to Idaho and Montana State.
Others Nominated:
Men: Robert Dula – Eastern Washington; Daniel Loebel – Idaho State; Andre Napoliatano – Montana State; Jordan Gobatie – Northern Arizona; Austin Mayo – Northern Colorado; Dustin Britton – North Dakota; Ayman Abdulwahab – Sacramento State; Todd Fought – Weber State
Women: Janaya Smith – Eastern Washington; Emmie Marx – Idaho; Cam Kincaid – Montana; Angelina Philippova – Montana State; Lea Krajcovicova - Northern Colorado; Sabina-Elena Preda – Portland State