OVC Honor For Van Zyl
After guiding The University of Tennessee at Martin to a victory in the team‘s Ohio Valley Conference opener at Eastern Kentucky last Saturday, sophomore Johanie Van Zyl was named the league‘s adidas Female Tennis Athlete of the Week this afternoon. The accolade marks two straight weeks that a Skyhawk has brought home the award, as Anna Winkelmann was honored last week. At Eastern Kentucky, Van Zyl single-handedly sealed the 4-3 victory for the Skyhawks. With the match deadlocked at 3-3 it came down to Van Zyl‘s match at No. 5 singles, where she recorded a come-from-behind 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win. Earlier in the match, Van Zyl‘s 8-5 doubles win alongside Katie McCall began a five-match win streak (three doubles, two singles) for Van Zyl to close out the week. She also posted 8-5 and 8-0 doubles victories over Morehead State and Tennessee State, respectively, while downing Morehead State‘s Lauren Delaney 6-1, 6-2 last Sunday. Overall, the Ashton, South Africa native is 2-0 in OVC singles play and 3-0 in OVC doubles action in 2011. The Skyhawks (7-7, 3-0 OVC) will look to stay undefeated in league play against rival Murray State at 2:30 p.m. next Tuesday, March 29 at Skyhawk Varsity Courts.