A pair of UC Irvine juniors took home the final Big West Tennis Athlete of the Week awards for 2013 as their successes helped both sides wrap up regular season crowns.
Cheung Perfect In Singles and Doubles Play
Junior Ryan Cheung (Irvine, Calif./University HS) went undefeated in singles and doubles to propel UC Irvine to three straight wins and a share of the league regular season title, earning him Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.
Cheung's exploits helped the Anteaters defeat Big West opponents UC Riverside, No. 71 Pacific and UC Davis as the wins improved UCI to 5-1 in conference play and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament.
He won all three singles matches in straight sets from the No. 1 position, including a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Pacific's Alex Golding that resulted in the 4-2 team win over the Tigers, UCI's third over a ranked opponent this season.
Cheung also downed UC Riverside's Jimmy Roberts and Toki Sherbakov of UC Davis.
The No. 1 doubles team of Cheung and Jonathan Hammel also performed solidly with a 3-0 mark as they extended their winning streak to six straight matches. The duo won all three rather easily with the closest outcome an 8-4 decision against Pacific's Golding and Sem Verbeek.
Others nominated: Marco Comuzzo (Cal Poly); Kyle Miller (UC Davis); Ziad Sultan (UC Santa Barbara); Jonathan Brooklyn (Hawaii); Denis Stolyarov (Pacific)
Mamiit Helps UC Irvine Finish Undefeated In Big West Play
UC Irvine junior Marivick Mamiit (Los Angeles, Calif./William & Mary) continued her late season hot play with a pair of singles wins and a doubles triumph to capture Big West Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.
The Anteaters defeated Cal State Fullerton (4-0) and Hawai’I (7-0) to finish Big West play 9-0 and an unblemished 14-0 at home. In addition, UCI extended its winning streak to 18 straight matches going into this week's Big West Tournament.
Mamiit improved to 10-9 in singles dual matches for the season. She defeated Titan counterpart Morgan McIntosh 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles slot. Against the Rainbow Wahine, Mamiit closed out the UCI scoring with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 victory versus Katarina Poljakova.
Mamiit partnered with Sarah Stadfelt to win at No. 3 doubles against UH and clinch the doubles point for UCI.
As she continues to pick up momentum, Mamiit has won three straight singles matches to improve to 5-1 against Big West competition, while undefeated at 5-0 in doubles action with Stadfelt.
Others nominated: Ellie Edles (UC Davis)