OGDEN, Utah—Marianna Petrei and
Felipe Fonseca swept this week's Big Sky Tennis Players of the Week honors, as announced by the conference on Tuesday. The pair finished the season undefeated in the Big Sky, helping their respective team to first-round byes at this week's Big Sky Tournament.
Petrei, a sophomore from Udine, Italy, helped Idaho seal the No. 2 seed in the tournament going unbeaten over the weekend at No. 1 singles and doubles. Hosting Montana Saturday, Petrei and
Lucia Badillos capped a sweep of doubles play with a 6-2 decision over Hannah Sulz and Catherine Orfanos. Petrei then topped Sulz in singles play to grab the victory-clinching point in the match.
With a the No. 2 seed on the line against Montana State, Petrei and Badillos' match at No. 1 doubles with Laura Middel and Chloe Goyette was tied at 6-6 when MSU clinched the doubles point on courts two and three. Idaho came back taking all six singles points, as Petrei started it off rolling past Goyette 6-2, 6-1 to hand the freshman her first career conference singles loss and just her third of the season.
The league's reigning MVP, Petrei has put together a very strong case at repeating this year as she is 17-1 overall in singles play and is now a combined 21-0 in Big Sky play during her first two seasons. She tied for the league lead with four Player of the Week selections and now has six in her career.
Fonseca, a junior from Curitiba, Brazil, completed the regular season with a perfect 11-0 mark in conference singles play as the No. 2 seeded Vandals closed the regular season with a sweep of Portland State. He teamed with
Guilherme Scarpelli at No. 3 doubles to top Scott Goldner and Yousef Abdo 6-2 as Idaho swept doubles play. Fonseca then battled past Tommy Edwards for a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 decision.
A two-time All-Big Sky selection, Fonseca has made a strong case for his third consecutive first-team honor after going 18-2 overall, 16-1 at No. 2 singles and 11-0 in conference play. The junior also improved to 31-2 overall in Big Sky singles play during his career. This is Fonseca's second career Player of the Week award.
