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Pac-12 announces tennis players of the week

Apr 20, 2015
L: GoldenBearSports.com/R: USC Athletics

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