MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES MEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For Immediate Release-Wednesday, April 13, 2011
MAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week
Michael Calderone, Western Michigan- Senior, Grass Lake, Mich.
Western Michigan senior Michael Calderone continued his pursuit of the most hallowed record in the schools men's tennis record books, going 3-1 over the course of the week to reach 209 career wins. That total ranks third on the all-time list at Western Michigan, and is just two wins behind Ravi Pathanjali's 211 for second on the all-time list. Calderone still has the opportunity to surpass Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Famer R.J. Dunkle's career wins total of 213.
Against Michigan State on April 6, Calderone took the No. 2 singles match 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) against Midwest region opponent Austin Brooks, and was one of just two Broncos to take a singles match from the Spartans. On April 8 against Chicago State, Calderone helped Western Michigan to a 7-0 MAC and Midwest region victory over the Cougars. Calderone teamed with Kazuya Komada in the No. 1 doubles match to shut out Chicago State's Ankit Chopra and Viet Lam 8-0, and would defeated Chopra 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 1 singles match later in the day.
Additional Nominees:
Jason Simon, Buffalo- Freshman, Roslyn, N.Y.
Buffalo freshman Jason Simon scored a singles victory against Binghamton with a super-tiebreaker win over Ruben Haggai at number five. Simon won the super-tiebreaker 10-7 after winning the opening set by a 6-4 count. Simon led Chicago State's Armaan Choudhary , 7-6 (2), 5-2 in the number two singles match on Sunday before play was stopped due to rain. In Tuesday's 7-0 win at St. Bonaventure, Simon scored a straight-sets win over Elliot Fanshel, 6-0, 6-2, in the number four singles match. Simon improved to 8-3 in singles play since joining the squad at the beginning of the second semester.
Sven Burus, Toledo- Senior, Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Toledo senior Sven Burus helped the Toledo men's tennis team do something this past weekend that hadn't been done in over 16 years: Toledo beat Ball State. Burus went 2-0 to assist in the 4-3 decision. Burus teamed with Aleksandar Elezovic at No. 1 doubles to claim an 8-3 win over Albertin and Morrison, and later fought off Ball State's Brym in three sets, winning 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 in the third slot. His two-win effort pushed the Rockets' match-win streak to 11 and gave them a perfect 3-0 conference ledger.
Previous Honorees:
Jan. 26: Michael Calderone, Western Michigan
Feb. 2: Kazuya Komada, Western Michigan
Feb. 9: Aleksandar Elezovic, Toledo
Feb. 16: Dalton Albertin, Ball State
Feb. 23: Maksym Bartiuk, Northern Illinois
March 2: Knot Likitkumchorn, Toledo
March 9: Knot Likitkumchorn, Toledo
March 16: Marcelo Mazzetto, Buffalo
March 23: Aleksandar Elezovic, Toledo
March 30: Casey Cullen, Western Michigan
April 6: Sven Burus, Toledo