CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Senior
Avery Zavala of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis program was honored with the first SLC Player of the Week award in 2024, announced by the league office Tuesday.
It is the second year in a row that the Islanders men's tennis program secured the first SLC Player of the Week accolade. It comes ahead of A&M-Corpus Christi's men and women tennis teams competing in their home openers on Wednesday. Due to weather in the forecast, they will move locations to the H-E-B Tennis Center to rematch Prairie View A&M in doubleheaders beginning at 10 a.m.
Zavala helped the Islanders to a sweeping start to the 2024 season, as the men beat Prairire View A&M 7-0 and 4-0 in a doubleheader contest. At the No.1 spot, Zavala won in a dominate 6-1, 6-1 season opener before finishing it with a 6-2, 6-0 sweep in the backend of the doubleheader. He also helped at the No. 1 doubles where he and his partner Nicolas Niox Chateau won 6-4 and 6-0 to help the Islanders secure the doubles point in both matches.
"We are incredibly proud of Avery! He has worked so hard and improved so much, but we are most proud of the way he has blossomed into such a great leader! He is a strong mentor to these young players and really leads by example! We always know we can count on Avery in singles, doubles, and as a great team captain," said head caoch
Steve Moore.
Both off to a 2-0 start to the season, the Islanders men and women's tennis teams will open their home slates in another doubleheader against Prairie View A&M. The first meetings were last week where the women played until clinch in both for two 4-0 scores while the men opened with a complete 7-0 sweep before closing out the second match with a 4-0 win.
Senior
Antoine Vicaire joined Zavala in going 2-0 in singles on opening day, playing at the No. 2 spot. He joined with freshman
Matthieu Coignet as the pair went 2-0 on the day in doubles. For the women, senior
Emma Aucagne, sophomore
Palina Saulevich, and freshman
Ana Veroux all went undefeated at their respective position in singles.
"The true-team, hardworking Islanders are incredibly excited about our first home match this Wednesday! They have been working incredibly hard with a sense of purpose at every practice. I love the team unity, encouragement, and motivation of these teams!" said Moore. "We had some tough battles at Prairie View last week so we know we've got to be focused and play each present point with intensity. I am excited to be back playing in front of the best tennis community in the country in Corpus Christi! Go Islanders!"
The last time each team played at home was after hosting the 2023 SLC Championship Finals, with both winning on their home court to the title to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The women are also carrying a 34-match home winning streak into the year.
The Islanders are 39-0 all-time over the Prairie View women and 42-0 on the men's side.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 16 NCAA Tournaments
- 33 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 41 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
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