MELBOURNE, Fla. – Officials from the Sunshine State Conference announced on Monday that Nova Southeastern sophomore Natalie Espinal has been named the Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week, after leading the No. 4 Sharks to one of their most consequential victories in program history and closing out the week 2-0 with a pair of sweeps, topping No. 3 Lynn and Eckerd at home this past week.
A doubles and singles Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American last season, Espinal’s effort on the No. 1 court keyed a big week for the Sharks, highlighted by a historic victory over No. 3 Lynn – marking only the third NSU triumph in the 25-match series. Espinal (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) was fully in command during both outings against the Fighting Knights, first pairing with Chantal Nosievici to notch the initial doubles win on a 6-1 final over Anna Baranovski and Eliska Petrackova, then going on to log the first singles win, topping Karyna Bihel on scores of 6-2, 6-1.
With the groundbreaking win under Espinal’s and the Sharks’ belts, she showed no signs of slowing up for the week, combining with Isabella Lowrey for a 6-1 doubles win against Eckerd’s Taylor Selby and Alexis Kwasnik, then finishing up by downing Selby 6-1, 6-0 in singles.
Espinal is 5-1 in both singles and doubles this season and this marks the second career weekly honor for the 2019 SSC Freshman of the Year and ITA South Region Rookie of the Year. This is the second award garnered by the Sharks this season, after Karolina Snita captured the award following the first week of action (March 8).
In matches last week, the Sharks did not drop a single set across two 7-0 sweeps, placing NSU in a quality position to become one of the top two seeds for the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Championships.
To stay up with all the latest on Sharks tennis, follow us on Twitter @NSU_WTennis, on Instagram @NSU_WTennis and on Facebook /NSUSharksWTennis
