Hawai‘i swept the tennis weekly awards, which included an upset on the women's side of the No. 21-ranked singles player in the nation.

Albert Clinches Winning Point For Hawai‘i In Two Matches

Freshman Felix Albert (Karlstadt, Germany/JSG Karlstadt) claimed the decisive points for Hawai‘i in a pair of victories to garner the Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week award.

Albert registered back-to-back three-set wins in singles to help the Rainbow Warriors topple UMKC (5-2) and Cleveland State (4-3).  At No. 4 singles, he defeated UMKC’s Uldis Gaismins, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to give the ‘Bows the match clinching point.

Moving up a spot to No. 3 singles, with the match knotted at 3-3, Albert pulled off a clutch 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-2 victory over Cleveland State’s Ali Shabib to clicnch the win for UH.  He also helped UH capture the doubles point against CSU with a 6-3 win at No. 3 alongside partner Fabian Woerhl.

Others nominated: Ben Donovan (Cal Poly); Brett Bacharach (UC Davis); Tyler Pham (UC Irvine); Nathan Eshmade (UC Santa Barbara)

Nguyen Upsets No. 21 Ranked Singles Player From Michigan

Hawai‘i sophomore Cindy Nguyen (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan HS) struck down the nation’s No. 21-ranked player in three sets to earn the Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week award.

In winning UH’s only point against No. 11 Michigan, Nguyen took care of Wolverine No. 1 singles counterpart Ronit Yurovsky in three sets, 7-6, 4-6, 1-0 (8-6).  It is the highest ranked player that Nguyen has defeated in her young career.  It also was Nguyen’s sixth straight singles win and she improved to 7-2 on the season in duals.

Others nominated: Mickey Hsu (CSUN); Ebba Unden (Long Beach State); Layla Sanders (UC Davis); Kat Facey (UC Irvine); Melissa Baker (UC Santa Barbara)