Kristen James Named ACC Player of the Week
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Jan. 30, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia women’s tennis player Kristen James (Clifton, Va.) was named ACC Player of the Week Monday conference officials announced. The fourth-year helped lead the Cavaliers to three wins last week to open the season as the team is off to the best start (3-0) since 2002.
In Friday’s season opener against Richmond, James won both her singles and doubles matches. In doubles, James teamed with fellow fourth-year Lori Stern (Ojai. Calif.) for an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles over Jessica Hubbard and Pamela Duran. In singles, James defeated Duran, the nation’s No. 74 ranked player, 7-6, 6-1, at the No. 2 position.
On Sunday, James helped lead the Cavaliers to a 6-1 win over Princeton and a 7-0 win over Old Dominion. James won both of her singles matches on the day at No. 2, losing just one game in the process. She defeated Alison Hashmall of Princeton 6-0, 6-1 and Barbara Costa of Old Dominion 6-0, 6-0. She also won both of her doubles matches, teaming with Stern to defeat Princeton’s Darcy Robertson and Joanna Roth 8-4 and teaming with Amanda Rales (Bethesda, Md.) for an 8-3 win over Costa and Barbara Kerner of Old Dominion.
The honor is the first ACC Player of the Week honor of James’ career, as she is the first Cavalier to be honored since Jen Tuchband was named ACC Player of the Week on March 17, 2003. James teamed with men’s tennis player Somdev Devvarman, who was named ACC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, to complete a Virginia sweep of the ACC weekly tennis awards. The last time the Cavaliers accomplished that feat was also March 17, 2003, as Tuchband won the women’s honor and Rylan Rizza won the men’s honor.
The Cavaliers will return to action on February 11 when they play Penn State in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. Virginia will stay the following day to play Penn.