Pac-12 Announces Tennis Players of the Week

SAN FRANCISCO - The Conference office announced today that Mackenzie McDonald of UCLA was named Pac-12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the second time this year and Lauren Marker of ARIZONA was voted Women's Tennis Player of the Week for action during the week of Feb. 8-14.

McDonald (Piedmont, Calif.) did not drop a match at the 2016 ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor Championship this past week. Although McDonald dropped the first set to 22nd-ranked Wayne Montgomery of Georgia in the first round, the UCLA junior coasted past his opponent in the second and third sets to clinch the match for the Bruins. In the quarterfinal matchup against No. 3 Texas A&M, McDonald once again forced a third set after dropping the first. The Bruin led 8th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech 3-0 in the third before the match was called due to UCLA clinching the match on court 2. In the semifinal matchup against No. 7 North Carolina, McDonald won the Bruins’ only singles point when he downed Brayden Schnur in straight sets. In doubles play, 12th-ranked McDonald and Martin Redlicki upset the third-ranked pair in the nation in UNC’s Brett Clark and Robert Kelly. This is McDonald's second weekly honor of the season and the third of his career. UCLA has garnered 27 all-time weekly accolades.

Marker (Rancho Mirage, Calif.) continued her year of successful play this season, helping the Wildcats to victories against University of San Diego (4-1), Northern Arizona (5-0), and New Mexico State (7-0) this week. She is now 7-1 in singles play. On Friday, Marker beat USD’s No. 114 Marta Stojanovic (6-2, 6-1) before beating NAU’s Hanneke Lodewjiks (6-4, 6-4) and NMSU’s Ashvarya Shrivastav (6-3, 6-3) on Saturday. Marker is also having success in double’s competition and is 6-1 when playing with senior Shayne Austin. This is Marker's second-career weekly honor and the eighth all-time in Wildcat history.

ALSO NOMINATED
Men: Naoki Takeda, ARIZ; Santiago Sierra, UTAH.
Women:  Stephanie Vlad, ASU; Nuria Ormeño Ruiz, COLO; Donika Bashota, WSU.

2016 PAC-12 MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK