RICHARDSON, Texas – Sophomore Lauren Giovannini of The University of Texas at Tyler received the first American Southwest Conference East Division women’s tennis Player of the Week honor of the 2009 season, the conference announced on Wednesday.

The Dallas-native earned a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 win over Division II Ouachita Baptist at No. 3 in singles action last Saturday. She also picked up a pair of doubles wins with her partner, junior Brittany Ude (Corpus Christi, Texas).

The 29th-ranked Patriots opened their 2009 season last week with a pair of shutouts over Ouachita Baptist and Schreiner.

This weekend, UT Tyler will travel to West Texas for a trio of games against ASC West Division opponents. The Patriots will take on McMurry on Friday and meet Hardin-Simmons and Howard Payne on Saturday.