Batrakov, Kawka Receive MWC Weekly Honors

PROVO, Utah -- BYU’s Georgy Batrakov and No. 112 Patrick Kawka received Mountain West Conference Men’s Tennis Co-Player of the Week honors Wednesday after each went 3-1 in the weekend’s conference tournament.

Wednesday’s award was Batrakov’s fourth player of the week accolade this season and Kawka’s first. Kawka was named MWC Freshman of the Year and Batrakov was named to the All-MWC singles and doubles teams April 27.

Playing most of the season at the No. 2 position, junior Batrakov earned a 22-3 singles record and 14-3 doubles record with Thomas Shubert this season. The 22 singles wins included a 17-match winning streak. In the conference tournament, Batrakov, a product of Yaroslavl, Russia, went undefeated in singles, winning against San Diego State’s Javier Pulgar and TCU’s Zach Nichols both in straight sets.

In doubles, Batrakov and Shubert held on to defeat SDSU’s Tim Schulz van Endert and Pulgar in the tiebreaker to secure the doubles point. Against TCU’s No. 48 Emanuel Brighiu and Christopher Price, the Cougar duo narrowly lost (8-6).

Kawka, a Las Vegas native, also went undefeated in singles at the No. 4 position, defeating Schulz van Endert 6-3, 6-2 and Slah Mbarek 6-1, 6-2. The wins brought his record to 31-9 in singles.

With Evan Urbina, Kawka is 22-12 in doubles. Over the weekend, defeated their SDSU opponents 8-5, but fell in the tiebreaker to Paul Chappell and Cameron Nash in the match against TCU.

Up next for the No. 35 Cougars, a trip to Los Angeles May 13 to take on No. 31 San Diego at 11 a.m. in the first round of the NCAA Championships.