Arielle Griffin, Aarzoo Malik Earn A-10 Weekly Tennis Honors Griffin named A-10 Athlete of the Week, Malik tabbed A-10 Rookie of the Week.
Amherst, Mass. – After helping UMass complete a weekend sweep over Bryant and Long Island, Arielle Griffin and Aarzoo Malik each picked up Atlantic 10 Weekly honors as announced by the league office on Tuesday. Griffin was tabbed Player of the Week, while Malik earned the Rookie of the Week title for her first ever league accolade.
UMass defeated both Bryant and Long Island to a score of 6-1, winning five-of-six singles matches on each afternoon. The Minutewomen swept the Bulldogs in doubles play while also clinching the doubles point against Long Island on two-of-three doubles victories.
Griffin posted a flawless weekend to lead the Minutewomen to a 2-0 record for the weekend. Against Bryant, Griffin and partner Yuliana Motyl defeated Bryant’s Marion Bouillin and Ryan Brown, 6-2, before taking straight sets (6-3, 6-0) over Devlin-Ann Ammendola in No. 4 singles. The Jamaica, N.Y., native, again paired with Motyl then beat Long Island’s top doubles team, 6-2, and added 6-0, 6-1 victory over Katya Yegoreychenko.
Following this weekend’s action, Griffin is now 3-1 in singles dual matches for the spring season and 2-1 in doubles play.
Freshman Malik stepped into the No. 2 position for UMass, posting a pair of singles victories and a win in doubles as the Mintuewomen went 2-0 last week. From New Delhi, India, Malik and partner Jessica Podlofsky picked up a 6-2 decision against Long Island’s Marine Dans and Brittany Thompson. Malik also added two straight set singles victories against Bryant’s Ryan Brown (6-0, 6-3) and Long Island’s Lisa Maas (6-1, 6-4).
The weekend lifts Malik to 2-0 in singles dual matches for the spring season and 4-1 overall. The freshman is also 1-0 in doubles play for the spring and 3-2 in her collegiate doubles career.
This marks Griffin’s third career league honor and first of the season, previously earning the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honor twice last season. For Malik this is her first collegiate league honor.
The Minutewomen return to action this weekend for a pair of home dual meets on Friday and Sunday against Army and Boston College, respectively
NB-Arielle Griffin is the daughter of Nevisians Sylvester Griffin and Venette James