By: Joseph Hovey
DALLAS — Kennesaw State's
Ema Baraniakova was named Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday.
Baraniakova becomes the first Owl to garner a CUSA women's tennis athlete of the week honor. She is also the program's first weekly award winner since Kat Muzik won the ASUN's women's player of the week award on April 12, 2022.
The junior from Leopoldov, Slovakia, went undefeated in singles play a week ago as the Owls defeated No. 58 South Alabama 4-0 in Kennesaw on March 20 and fell 4-2 at Lipscomb on March 22.
Against the Jaguars, Baraniakova overcame Rio Maeda 6-4, 6-1 on court one following a 6-2 win in No. 1 doubles with
Sofia Madrid. Baraniakova's play paved the way for the Owls' shutout of No. 58 South Alabama, the highest-ranked opponent defeated in program history. KSU not only met this milestone in the win over the Jaguars but tied its second-longest win streak all time with an eighth consecutive match won.
While that streak came to an end on Sunday in Nashville, Baraniakova's singles success did not. The Owls' line-one leader earned her third straight singles match victory with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Lipscomb's Sofiia Paladi.
Baraniakova and KSU next host matches at Betty Siegel Courts versus No. 55 Georgia Tech and Middle Tennessee on March 25 and 27, respectively.
The Champions Fund
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