The Lone Star Conference Tennis Championships begin tomorrow at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. The field includes six men’s teams and the top eight women’s teams with play starting Friday with men’s first-round matches at 8 a.m, while the women’s opening matches start at 9:30 a.m. Both semifinals will be played Friday afternoon, with the men starting at 1 p.m. and the women at 2 p.m. The championship matches are set for Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
FIRST SERVE
• Abilene Christian’s men are looking for their third consecutive LSC title, while the Wildcat women are the three-time defending champions.
TENNIS ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
MEN’S
Nicolas Clerc, Cameron University, FR, Buenos Aires, Argentina, World Hope Academy
Clerc completed the regular season with a perfect 20-0 singles record this week. He started by taking out Midwestern State’s Jarrod Liston 6-1, 7-5. In his doubles contest against the Mustangs, Clerc and partner Santiago Romero overwhelmed Luke Joyce and Vjeckoslav Stipanic 8-1 at the No. 1 position. In CU’s match-up against Abilene Christian, the Aggie freshman clenched a 6-4, 6-3 win over Bryan Joiner. In doubles, Clerc and Romero bested Joiner and Hans Hach 8-3. Over the weekend, Cameron faced NAIA No. 5 Oklahoma Christian. In that contest, Clerc earned a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 victory against Renardy Guelfi at the No. 4 slot. In the last regular season match of the spring, the CU standout overcame Seminole State’s Jason Blakely-Miller. Clerc captured the first set 6-4 before Blakely-Miller defaulted during the second set.
WOMEN’S
Julia Puckhaber, Cameron University, FR, Hambergen, Germany, Gymnasium Osterholz Schambeck
Puckhaber, who is 15-3 for the spring, closed out an outstanding regular season for the Aggies this week. She and doubles partner Amanda Moberg started out by picking up an impressive 8-2 win over Midwestern State’s Rozike van Rensburg and Alex Odell-Michels at the No. 1 position. The duo from MSU is ranked first in the region and No. 11 in the nation. Puckhaber carried her winning momentum into singles play by taking out former LSC Player of the Week Odell-Michels 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 2 slot. Later in the week, Puckhaber fell to Abilene Christian’s Jaclyn Walker, who is second in the region and No. 15 in the nation, but not before taking a set off her.