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Louisiana’s Oriol Fillat Gimenez and Arkansas State’s Thea Rice charted highly successful weeks for their respective teams and were named the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Players of the Week.

Men’s Tennis Player of the Week
Oriol Fillat Gimenez, Louisiana
(So., Barcelona, Spain)

Ragin’ Cajuns sophomore Oriol Fillat Gimenez posted a 2-0 record in both singles and doubles – without dropping a single set – in helping lead Louisiana to a sweep of Texas Tech and New Mexico State in Lubbock, Texas, Feb. 11-12, which extended the team’s winning streak to six matches. Both days, Fillat Gimenez and partner Vasil Dimitrov finished first in doubles, giving the Ragin’ Cajuns a headstart on claiming the point. His win at No. 3 singles on Friday vs. Texas Tech’s Reed Collier created separation and opened a 3-1 lead, setting up Louisiana’s triumph over the Power 5 foe. The weekend success extended Fillat Gimenez’s personal winning streak in both singles and doubles to five games.

Women’s Tennis Player of the Week
Thea Rice, Arkansas State
(Jr., Hot Springs, Ark.)

Red Wolves’ junior Thea Rice went 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles in a three-match weekend. Playing at No. 1 singles, she won two matches in straight sets and the third in three sets. She defeated Chunxi Xin of Central Arkansas 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 and earned straight-set wins over Grace Ball of Kansas City (6-2, 6-2) and Mary Houston of Missouri State (6-4, 6-4). Paired with Nejla Zukic at No. 1 doubles, the pair defeated Kansas City 6-4 and Missouri State 6-0. The doubles loss to Central Arkansas was a 7-6 setback in a 7-5 tiebreaker.

2022 Sun Belt Men’s Tennis Player of the Week
Week 1 – Carles Anton, Troy
Week 2 – Roberts Grinvalds, Georgia State
Week 3 – Karlo Kajin, Louisiana
Week 4 – Oriol Fillat Gimenez, Louisiana

2022 Sun Belt Women’s Tennis Player of the Week
Week 1 – Hala Badwy, ULM
Week 2 – Mae McCutcheon, Texas State
Week 3 – Anna Babayan, Coastal Carolina
Week 4 – Thea Rice, Arkansas State