COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—TCU freshman
Slah Mbarek was named Mountain West Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, the league office announced Thursday. The award marks Mbarek’s first career honor and the second for a Horned Frog this season.
The selection marks the second week in a row a Frog was tabbed by the MWC office. Senior
Kriegler Brink received the accolade last week.
A native of Tunis, Tunisia, who joined the TCU program for the second semester, Mbarek went a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles play last week, including two upset victories. Against No. 9 Ole Miss, the then-unranked Mbarek upset No. 40 Devin Britton (6-4, 5-7, 7-6 [2]) at the No. 2 position before defeating Christian Rojmar (6-3, 7-6 [7-4]) at the No. 3 spot against No. 29 Texas Tech.
In doubles play, Mbarek teamed with Brink at No. 1 doubles to upset the nation’s fourth-ranked duo of Jonas Berg and Bram ten Berge of Ole Miss (8-3), followed by a win over Texas Tech’s Sinisa Markovic and Michael Breler (8-3) at No. 2 doubles.
Mbarek’s performance last week helped him enter this week’s ITA national rankings at No. 93 in singles and No. 26 in doubles with Brink. He currently owns a 5-4 spring singles mark and a 5-1 record with Brink in doubles. The pair opened the season 5-0 prior to dropping a Wednesday evening math to SMU.
TCU continues a six-match homestand this weekend, when it plays host to a pair of 2 p.m. matches: Friday vs. No. 63 San Diego and Saturday vs. UT San Antonio.
