COLORADO SPRINGS -- BYU's Jonathan Sanchez and UNLV's Claire Smith have been named the Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, respectively.
Sanchez won three singles matches at the No. 4 position and two doubles matches at the No. 2 position over a two-day span as the Cougars fell to No. 17 Washington (4-3) before picking up wins over Portland (5-2) and Oregon (4-3) on the road.
A junior from Fullerton, Calif., Sanchez recorded straight-set victories in all three of his singles matches, dispatching Washington's Derek Drabble (6-3, 6-1), Portland's Joel Kincaid (6-4, 6-2) and Oregon's Mike Myrhed (6-4, 6-2). In doubles play, he paired with senior Christian Hand to defeat the Washington duo of Patrick Fischer/Mike Ricks (8-5) and the Oregon pair of Marcos Verdasco/Francisco Gallardo (8-4).
Smith went a combined 6-0 over the weekend in No. 40 UNLV's sweep of UC Riverside (7-0), Southern Utah (7-0) and Utah State (7-0) as the Lady Rebels set a school record with their sixth consecutive shutout.
In singles play, Smith took straight-set matches from UC Riverside's Donna McCullough (7-6, 6-1) and Southern Utah's Deena Jenson (6-0, 6-0) at the No. 3 position and defeated Utah State's Dee-Dee Nelson (6-1, 6-1) at the No. 4 position. In doubles action, the senior teamed up wtih freshman Alisa Razina to defeat UC Riverside's H.R. Espiritu/Roxanne Plata (8-3) and Southern Utah's Emmi Bulloch/Casie Brooks (8-0) at the No. 2 position and Utah State's Bridgette Strickland/Dee-Dee Nelson (8-2) at the No. 3 spot.
Smith has not lost a set or a match this spring in singles or doubles action, improving to 6-0 in each category. Off to a career-best start with a team-leading 11-2 record in singles play, she moved into ninth place on the UNLV career list for singles victories (67) and into seventh place for doubles victories (54).