COLORADO SPRINGS -- Junior Evan Urbina was honored by the Mountain West Conference as the Player of the Week for men’s tennis. On the women’s side, TCU’s Idunn Hertberg earned the distinction.
This is the first time Urbina, one of the three remaining undefeated BYU players, has won the award. He led No. 61 BYU to a 3-0 record last weekend while playing at the No. 2 singles position against No. 61 Harvard, No. 67 Mississippi State and DePaul. The junior clinched the 4-3 win against the Crimson with his three-set victory over Aba Omodele-Lucien (3-6, 7-6, 6-4), and went on to clinch the 4-2 match against the Bulldogs later that afternoon with another three-set win, this time over No. 125 Artem Ilyushin (6-4, 3-6, 6-4). The next day against DePaul, Urbina and partner Spencer Smith secured the doubles point for the Cougars, defeating Douglas Perrin/Alasdair Graetz (9-8 [8]) at the No. 2 slot. Urbina won the first set of his singles match against Bartosz Jozwiak (6-4), but play was stopped after BYU secured the 6-0 victory.
Hertzberg, a product of Oslo, Norway, posted a perfect 4-0 record on the road last weekend as the Horned Frogs registered a 1-1 mark in season-opening matches versus No. 21 Vanderbilt and No. 30 Texas. She battled through a pair of three-set matches in singles play at the No. 4 spot, including a tiebreaker in the 4-3 victory over Texas. The junior defeated Vanderbilt’s Keilly Ulery (3-6, 6-3, 6-3), before emerging victorious over the Long Horns’ Amanda Craddock (3-6, 7-6 [4], 6-1). In doubles, Hertzberg teamed up with Gaby Mastromarino at the No. 3 position to garner two wins, both of which set the stage for No. 27 TCU to later clinch the doubles point from the top court. The duo overcame the Commodores’ Catherine Newman/Rachael Dillon (8-4), and Texas’ Sarah Lancaster/Caroline Larsson (8-6).