SAN FRANCISCO - CALIFORNIA freshman Billy Griffith and USC freshman Madison Westby were named the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Tennis Players of the Week for play from Apr. 13-19, the Conference office announced today.
Griffith (Fresno, Calif.) played in his first match in almost a month for the Golden Bears, ending up with a dual-clinching victory for Cal over rival Stanford. The freshman defeated Cardinal junior Nolan Page, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, on Saturday to clinch No. 28 Cal’s 4-3 upset of 24th-ranked Stanford. The result snapped the Cardinal’s 10-match winning streak and kept Stanford from seizing sole possession of the Pac-12 regular-season title.
Westby (Tulsa, Okla.) also clinched a major rivalry victory this week to help USC hold off No. 5 UCLA to help the Trojans secure an undefeated Pac-12 season and earn their second outright Pac-12 title in the past three seasons. The freshman came back from dropping the first set against UCLA’s Kyle McPhillips, facing match point in the second set to force a tiebreaker, then playing through an injury sustained during the tiebreaker to win the second set and then the third set for a final match score of 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4. The singles win capped a come-from-behind victory for the Women of Troy, who had trailed the Bruins 3-0 in the match before battling out four-straight singles wins to win, 4-3.
It marks the first-career weekly selection for Martin and the 21st all-time men’s selection for California. It is the second-career weekly honor for Westby and the 35th all-time women’s selection for USC.
Both teams head to Ojai, Calif., for the Pac-12 Championships. The men’s team championships begin Wednesday with first-round action, with California beginning competition on Thursday after earning the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye. The women’s singles and doubles championships kick off Thursday.
Also Nominated
Men: Simon Stevens, ORE; John Morrissey, STAN; Max de Vroome, USC.
Women: Denise Starr, CAL; Nicole Long, ORE; Carol Zhao, STAN.
2015 PAC-12 TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Date | Men's | Women's |
Jan. 19 | Kevin Farin, Oregon | Maegan Manasse, California |
Jan. 26 | Nick Crystal, USC | Terri Fleming, UCLA |
Feb. 2 | Roberto Quiroz, USC | Zoë Scandalis, USC |
Feb. 9 | Martin Redlicki, UCLA | Maegan Manasse, California |
Feb. 16 | Eric Johnson, USC | Madison Westby, USC |
Feb. 23 | Maciek Romanowicz, Stanford | Giuliana Olmos, USC |
Mar. 2 | Jake Douglas, Washington | Klara Fabikova, California |
Mar. 9 | Parker McGuiness, Utah | Denise Starr, California |
Mar. 16 | Jonny Wang, USC | Karla Popovic, California |
Mar. 23 | Eric Johnson, USC | Meredith Xepoleas, USC |
Mar. 30 | Dennis Mkrtchian, UCLA | Zsofi Susanyi, California |
Apr. 6 | Martin Redlicki, UCLA | Gabby Smith, USC |
Apr. 13 | John Morrissey, Stanford | Robin Anderson, UCLA |
Apr. 20 | Billy Griffith, California | Madison Westby, USC |