Drake athletes' Mauricio Ballivian and Manca Krizman claim this week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Athlete of the Week honors.

Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week

Mauricio Ballivian, Drake, SR., Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Senior Mauricio Ballivian made a statement with his play this past week leading the 72nd-rated Bulldogs to a pair of wins over Bradley and Illinois State.  Playing the final home matches of his distinguished career, Ballivian posted a perfect 4-0 combined singles/doubles ledger.  In Drake's 7-0 triumph over Bradley, Ballivian paired with Anis Ghorbel to register the duo's 10th straight victory at No. 1, downing Ashton Kalhorn and Eric Nguyen, 8-1.  In singles, he bested Hamish Weerasinghe, 6-2, 6-1.  Ballivian played his best tennis in Drake's 6-1 victory over Illinois State, the defending MVC regular season champions.  In doubles, he and Ghorbel dispatched of Alexander Pelaez and Timon Reichelt, 8-1.  The Illinois State duo had come into the match with a 25-6 overall record.  In his final home match and in battle of the 2010 MVC Players of the Year, Ballivian was dominant en route to a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Reichelt at No. 1.  On the season, Ballivian sports a 54-13 combined singles/doubles ledger.  He has now won seven and 11 consecutive matches in singles and doubles, respectively.

Other Notable Performances:

Jorge Cavero, Southern Illinois, FR., Lima, Peru

This past week, freshman Jorge Cavero went 2-0 in singles for the Salukis.  Against Eastern Illinois, Cavero bested Warren Race 6-2, 6-4 in the Salukis' 5-2 victory over the Panthers. Sunday at Wichita State he scored the lone SIU match point against WSU's Guillermo Nicol 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the 6-1 loss to the defending MVC champion Shockers.  These two wins improve him to 10-2 overall on the dual-match season in singles, which is tied for the best record on the team.  Cavero is now on a three match winning streak, his last singles loss coming against South Carolina State on March 16.  

Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week

Manca Krizman, Drake, SO., Solkan, Slovenia
Sophomore Manca Krizman fashioned a strong week for the Bulldogs posting a 3-1 combined singles/doubles ledger in sparking Drake to a 1-1 road mark.  In the Bulldogs' 4-3 setback at Illinois State, she downed Aniko Kiss at the No. 1 position, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-6, while narrowly missing a doubles triumph with Gabriela Demos at the top slot, dropping an 8-7 decision.  She then won her fifth straight singles match against Bradley as she bested Nicole Miller at No. 1,
6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-8.  In doubles, she paired with Demos to defeat Miller and Sarah Rodefeld, 8-5.  On the season, Krizman leads the Bulldogs in singles (16) and doubles (17) victories, while sporting a team-best 33-28 combined singles/doubles ledger.

Other Notable Performances:

Sarah Rodefeld, Bradley, FR., Carmel, Indiana

Rodefeld picked up a pair of three-set victories at #2 singles during the week to even her conference record to 2-2 on the year.  After dropping her opening set to UNI’s Laia Gonzalez 3-6, Rodefeld took the second set 6-4 and rallied from a 7-2 deficit to score eight consecutive points in the third set and pull out a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 win.  Sunday against Drake, Rodefeld again rallied after dropping the opening set to top Gabriella Demos 4-6, 6-3, 10-7. 

Manca Krizman, Drake, SO., Solkan, Slovenia
Sophomore Manca Krizman fashioned a strong week for the Bulldogs posting a 3-1 combined singles/doubles ledger in sparking Drake to a 1-1 road mark.  In the Bulldogs' 4-3 setback at Illinois State, she downed Aniko Kiss at the No. 1 position, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-6, while narrowly missing a doubles triumph with Gabriela Demos at the top slot, dropping an 8-7 decision.  She then won her fifth straight singles match against Bradley as she bested Nicole Miller at No. 1,
6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-8.  In doubles, she paired with Demos to defeat Miller and Sarah Rodefeld, 8-5.  On the season, Krizman leads the Bulldogs in singles (16) and doubles (17) victories, while sporting a team-best 33-28 combined singles/doubles ledger.

Melanie Delsart, Southern Illinois, SO., Buenos Aires, Argentina

Delsart split the weekend in conference play against Wichita State and Creighton. Against Wichita, she was the only Saluki to deny a straight-set sweep in singles play, taking top-ranked Lutfiana Budiharto to three sets before eventually falling 1-6, 6-0, 6-3. In SIU’s first MVC victory of the season against Creighton, Delsart teamed up with Jennifer Dien to win at first doubles, 9-7, before handily defeating Anna Kirshenbaum at No. 1 singles by a 6-2, 6-3 margin. Delsart now holds a 9-8 individual record on the year.

Aniko Kiss, Illinois State, JR., Subotica, Serbia

Illinois State junior Aniko Kiss had an impressive week for the Redbirds. In singles action, Kiss went 1-3 losing to Amy Allin of Illinois, 6-1, 7-5, and to Manca Krizman of Drake in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 10-6. Kiss was successful however against Phoebe Walker of Northern Iowa, picking up one of two points the ‘Birds earned against the Panthers, 7-5, 6-2. In doubles, Kiss went 2-3 losing to #20 Rachael White and Allison Falkin of Illinois with partner Carolina Abello in a tight tie-break, 8-7 (7-3). Kiss then went on with Phyllis Tigges to defeat Manca Krizman and Gabriela Demos of Drake, 8-7 (11-9) and Laia Gonzalez and Phoebe Walker of Northern Iowa 8-6.

Lara Okicki, UNI, FR., Porotorz, Slovenia

Lara won both her singles and doubles match against Bradley on Saturday. She defeated Meredith McDonagh of Bradley 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 3 match. Lara and teammate Chelsea Moore defeated the Bradley team of Meredith McDonagh and Brigette Graf 8-0 in the No.2 doubles match. Lara continued winning weekend on Sunday against Illinois State. She won her singles match against Carolina Abello of Illinois State by default after Abello got injured during the match. Lara and Chelsea Moore went on to defeat Hannah Esker and Ariane Maack of ISU 8-2 in the No. 2 match. Lara is 11-7 so far in the spring 2011 season, and she hold a 13-5 doubles record with Moore. Lara has held the No. 3 position for the majority of the season.