Fresno State Athletics
Luczak Named Men's Tennis National Player of the Month
5/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 8, 2001
PRINCETON, N.J. - Arizona State's Adria Engel and Fresno State's Peter Luczak have been named Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Players of the Month for April, the ITA announced today.
Florida's Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff are the ITA National Doubles Team of the Month for women and Stanford's K.J. Hippensteel and Alex Kim earned the same honors for men's doubles.
Fresno State's Luczak, a senior from Melbourne, Australia, is the ITA National Men's Player of the Month for April. Luczak went 6-0 last month to improve to 25-0 this season and jump to No. 3 in the WingspanBank.com national singles rankings. He closed out last month by beating the nation's No. 6 and 10th-ranked players. He is currently the only undefeated player in the national top 100.
Arizona State's Engel, a sophomore from Glen Ellyn, Ill., went 11-1 in April to earn ITA National Women's Player of the Month honors. She registered 6 top 52 wins and also captured the singles title at the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif. Engel is currently No. 6 in the WingspanBank.com national singles rankings.
Florida's Laiho and Lehnhoff went 5-0 last month on their way to ITA National Women's Doubles Team of the Month. They notched two top 15 wins and also helped Florida to the regular season Southeastern Conference title. Laiho and Lehnhoff are ranked No. 4 in the latest WingspanBank.com national doubles rankings.
Stanford's Hippensteel and Kim turned in an 11-1 mark in April and also captured the Pac-10 men's doubles title. Hippensteel and Kim beat two top-eight ranked tandems last month and also helped Stanford move to No. 1 in the national team rankings. Kim received this honor (with Geoff Abrams) in October of 1999 and was also named ITA National Player of the Month this past February. Hippensteel and Kim are currently ranked 15th in the country.
All of the players honored will be in action this weekend in first and second round play in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships.
As the governing body of collegiate tennis, the ITA promotes both the athletics and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which is based in Princeton, N.J., administers a number of major collegiate tennis championships and programs including the ITA Grand Slam Championships and the WingspanBank.com Collegiate Tennis Rankings. The ITA includes more than 1,500 coaches, 15,000 collegiate tennis players and more than 1,000 college tennis programs at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and junior college levels.
