PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Notre Dame junior Billy Pecor was named BIG EAST Player of the Week in men’s tennis and DePaul freshman Matea Cutura was named BIG EAST Player of the Week in women’s tennis in the eighth weekly awards of the spring 2013 season.

 

Pecor went 1-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles to help No. 27 Notre Dame beat No. 13 Illinois 4-1. The junior defeated No. 118 Ross Guignon 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 from the No. 4 spot. In doubles action, Pecor and teammate Alex Lawson played in the No. 2 position and beat the pair of Farris Gosea and Alex Jesse 8-5.

 

Cutura went 2-0 in singles from the No. 1 position. She defeated Lindsay Graff 7-6, 6-4 and Madelein Hamilton 6-1, 6-1. DePaul lost to No. 68 Princeton 3-4 and No. 39 Yale 3-4.

 

Tennis Notes From Around the League:

 

• Two BIG EAST teams rank in the top 50 of the March 5 ITA Men’s National Team Rankings: No. 27 Notre Dame and No. 41 Louisville.

 

• Three players rank in the top 105 of the Feb. 26 ITA Men’s Singles Rankings: No. 97 Greg Andrews of Notre Dame, No. 101 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville, and No. 102 Blas Moros of Notre Dame.

 

• Two BIG EAST doubles teams rank in the top 60 of the Feb. 26 ITA Men’s Doubles Rankings: No. 48 Alex Gornet and Albert Wagner of Louisville and No. 56 Oliver Pramming and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz of USF.

 

• Senior Vasko Mladenov of St. John’s has won four straight matches all in straight sets and all from the No. 1 position. His 6-2, 6-4 win against Srika Alla propelled the Red Storm to their first win of the season, defeating Fordham 7-0.

 

• No. 42 Louisville fell short of a win against No. 23 Harvard, falling 3-4.

 

Women’s Tennis Notes From Around the League:

 

• Four BIG EAST teams rank in the top 75 of the March 5 ITA Women’s National Team Rankings: No. 15 Notre Dame, No. 58 Louisville, No. 70 USF, and No. 75 DePaul.

 

• Four players rank in the top 120 of the Feb. 26 ITA Women’s Singles Rankings: No. 42 Britney Sanders of Notre Dame, No. 78 Ecaterina Vasenina of USF, No. 85 Mateca Cutura of DePaul, and No. 119 Vanessa Petrini of Rutgers.

 

• One BIG EAST doubles team ranks in the top-50 of the Feb. 26 ITA Women’s Doubles Rankings: No. 39 Julie Sabacinski, and Britney Sanders of Notre Dame.

 

• No. 85 Matea Cutura of DePaul defeated No. 42 Britney Sanders of Notre Dame 7-5, 3-6, 11-9 and improved to 5-1 against ranked opponents this season.

 

 

Last Week’s Results:

 

3/5	RUTGERS (W) at CONNECTICUT (W)	Rutgers W, 7-0
	Notre Dame (M) vs. Illinois	W, 4-1
3/6	Georgetown (W) at Florida International	W, 4-3
	Georgetown (M) at Florida Atlantic	L, 2-5
	Louisville (M) vs. Indiana	W, 4-3
3/7	Villanova (M) at Whittier	W, 5-4
3/8	Georgetown (M) at Barry	L, 2-7
	Georgetown (W) at Nova Southeastern	W, 5-2
	St. John’s (M) vs. Memphis	L, 1-6
	DePaul (M) at New Mexico	L, 2-5
	USF (M) vs. Penn	W, 5-2
	DePaul (W) at Princeton	L, 3-4
	Louisville (M) vs. Oklahoma	L, 1-6
	Marquette (M) vs. Northern Illinois	L, 3-4
3/9	Georgetown (M) at Miami	L, 0-4
	Connecticut (M) vs. Brown	L, 1-6
	Pittsburgh (W) vs. Cornell	L, 1-6
	Rutgers (W) at West Virginia	L, 1-6
	St. John’s (M) at Princeton	L, 2-5
	St. John’s (W) at Yale	L, 0-7
	LOUISVILLE (W) at CINCINNATI (W)	Louisville W, 7-0
10	ST. JOHN’S (W) at CONNECTICUT (W)	St. John’s W, 6-1
	DePaul (W) at Yale	L, 3-4
	DePaul (M) at New Mexico State	L, 3-4
	RUTGERS (W) at PITTSBURGH (W)	Pittsburgh W, 4-3
11	USF (M) vs. South Alabama	W, 4-3
	Marquette (W) at UC Irvine	L, 2-5