Himmelsbach, McCarthy Chosen For MAAC Tennis Weekly Awards
MAAC Sports
Edison, NJ – Marist’s Matt Himmelsbach and Erin McCarthy were named the MAAC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Players of the Week, respectively.
Himmelsbach, a sophomore from Longmeadow, Mass., amassed a combined record of 6-0 last week as he won three singles matches and three doubles contests. He won all of his singles contests in straight sets, all of which came in Marist victories. On April 8, Himmelsbach bested Stefan Bojic of St. John’s 6-2, 6-1. Over the weekend he won two more matches against opponents from Niagara and Colgate. He defeated the Purple Eagles’ David Sarrasin 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday and Alex Goldstein of Colgate 6-1, 6-3. In his singles matches he won 36 of 46 games played during the week. He leads the team in victories with 21. In doubles he was unblemished as well as he teamed with Christian Coley at second doubles for three wins. On Thursday they beat Pavel Cerny and Martin Kosut 8-3 as the Red Foxes went on to a 4-3 win over St. John’s. Himmelsbach and Coley cruised past Jordan Blair and Sarrasin on Saturday and won their match 8-3. A day later the tandem held on for an 8-6 win over Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiatnikov. The pair is on a four-match winning streak.
McCarthy, a sophomore from Salem, N.J., has won her last five singles and doubles matches dating back to March 30 when the Red Foxes opened MAAC play. During the stretch she has had just one singles match go to three sets, while all four of her straight set victories have come against conference opponents. Last week she went 4-0 as she split time between first and second singles. She defeated Danielle Crill of Siena 6-3, 6-1, Raquel Solis of Niagara 6-0, 6-1, Elise DeRose of Colgate 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and Kristina Paich of Rider 6-1, 6-3. Her matches against Colgate and Rider were contested at first singles. In doubles action she won her four matches, three against conference opponents from Siena, Niagara and Rider. She and Kayla O’Donovan bested Siena’s Cril and Elora Benfer 8-5, and against Niagara they beat Solis and Brittany Walters 8-4. On Sunday and Monday she teamed up with Joana Sun at first doubles for victories against Colgate and Rider. Against the Raiders, the Marist pair squeaked out an 8-6 win over DeRose and Stephanie Brown. On Monday, McCarthy and Sun defeated Paich and Allison Clay, 8-1.
The MAAC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will take place from April 23rd through April 25th at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.