Sebastian Heim and Hayley Thompson helped their respective teams lock up the No. 1 seeds in the Big West Tournament as they secured the tennis weekly awards.

Heim Helps UC Irvine To Share Of Regular Season Crown

Dominant play from Sebastian Heim (Speyer, Germany/Hans-Purrmann Gym) netted him the Big West Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week award as he helped UC Irvine clinch a share of the conference regular season title and secure the No. 1 tournament seed.

UCI improved to 4-1 in Big West play with decisive wins against Hawai‘i and No. 53 UC Davis.  Heim spearheaded the attack with a pair of straight set wins at No. 1 singles.  He dispatched Rainbow Warrior counterpart Nils Schuhmann, 6-3, 6-2, in a 7-0 UCI victory.  In a 6-1 win over the Aggies, Heim downed Alec Adamson by a 6-1, 6-4 score as UCI improved to 19-12 on the year. 

The win over Adamson also improved Heim’s record in singles duals to 20-7, with 16 of those wins coming at No. 1.

Others nominated: Ben Donovan (Cal Poly); Cooper Bridge (UC Riverside); Erik Johnsson (UC Santa Barbara)

Thompson Perfect In Singles And Doubles

Hayley Thompson (Irvine, Calif./Crean Lutheran) helped Long Beach State finish conference play undefeated for the second straight season, and won all four of her singles and doubles matches to earn Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week recognition.

The sophomore did not drop a single set in victories over UC Riverside’s Caroline Hall and BYU’s Brittanie Eraso in the No. 4 draw.  She also teamed with Ebba Unden at No. 1 doubles to win both contests.

Thompson helped LBSU sweep its first ranked opponent of the year in No. 64 BYU, while improving to 12-8 in singles duals and 13-7 in doubles.
 
Others nominated: Kat Facey (UC Irvine); Lou Adler (UC Santa Barbara)