Freshman Batrakov Earns Mountain West Conference Player of the Week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – BYU’s Georgy Batrakov and UNLV’s Kristina Nedeltcheva have been named the Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Players of the Week, respectively.

A freshman from Yaroslavi, Russia, Batrakov went a combined 4-0 last week, helping BYU to dual-match victories over Utah State and Weber State. Playing at the No. 4 position in singles, Batrakov defeated Mike Banks of Utah State in straight sets (7-5, 6-2), and was victorious over Chris Williams of Weber State, also in straight sets (6-1, 6-2). In doubles play, Batrakov teamed with Daniel Hwang for victories over Utah State’s Mike Banks and Jordan Barlow (8-4) and Weber State’s Cole Paterson and Chris Williams (8-1).

Nedeltcheva, a junior from Sofia, Bulgaria, opened her junior season with two ranked singles victories at the elite Freeman Memorial Tennis Championships in Las Vegas. She defeated No. 107-ranked Carmen Seremeta (Oregon) in straight sets (6-2, 7-6). After falling to No. 32 Csilla Borsanyi of Baylor (7-6, 6-1), Nedeltcheva upset No. 83 Shinann Featherston of North Carolina in consolation play. In doubles play, Nedeltcheva and partner Katy Williams beat Stanford’s Courtney Clayton and Carolyn McVeig, 9-7, before being ousted by the nation’s second-ranked tandem of Renata Kucerkava and Anastasia Tukhova of Fresno State, 8-3.