March 24, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M's Morgan Frank has been named the Big 12 Tennis Player of the Week for her performances from March 15-21, the conference office announced.
The junior from Oldsmar, Fla., garnered the honor for the third time in her career after going a combined 6-0 last week, winning all three singles matches and all three doubles matches to help lead A&M to a 3-0 week.
Frank was instrumental in A&M's push in a come-from-behind upset win against No. 14 Arkansas, which marked the Aggies' highest ranked victory since defeating No. 10 Texas in the finals of the 2004 Big 12 Championship. With A&M trailing the Razorbacks, 3-2, Frank held on to defeat Kate Lukomskaya, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) at the No. 2 line, overcoming a 5-3 deficit in the second set to get the win and keep A&M in the hunt for the victory.
Frank, whose only singles loss this year was in the season opener against Clemson on Jan. 30, played No. 3 singles in A&M's Big 12 opener against Kansas on Friday and tied her career-high 10-match winning streak by defeating Maria Martinez, 6-1, 6-0.
Frank then broke the record, which she originally set as a freshman at the No. 5 line, by defeating Ana Gomez Aleman of Kansas State, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 3 court on Sunday. Frank's 11-match winning streak marks the longest winning streak by an A&M player since 2004, when Nicki Mechem closed out the season with 18 consecutive wins at the No. 4 and 5 positions.
In doubles, Frank went 3-0 with partner Stephanie Davidson (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas) at the No. 2 line to help A&M win the crucial doubles point in each of its three matches. Frank and Davidson gave up a total of only seven games in all three matches combined, defeating the doubles pair from Arkansas, 8-3, defeating the Kansas tandem, 8-1 and defeating the Kansas State duo, 8-3.
Frank improved to 14-4 overall in singles, including 11-1 in dual matches only, and 19-6 overall in doubles, including 9-3 in dual matches only.
Next up for Frank and the No. 44 Aggies (7-4, 2-0 Big 12) is a conference match-up with 67th-ranked Texas Tech on Sunday in Lubbock. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. at the McLeod Tennis Center.
Live scoring of all A&M women's tennis matches is available at AggieAthletics.com.