LSUA’s Maria Alvarez earns NAIA National Player of the Week
ALEXANDRIA—The accolades keep rolling in for Maria Alvarez after this past week’s stellar performance.
Alvarez, a freshman from Madrid, Spain, has earned NAIA National Player of the Week, in addition to Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Week, the NAIA announced on Wednesday.
It is the third such award in the program’s history and first since Paula Gordillo in 2017. At the time, Gordillo won LSUA’s second National POW honor in three weeks after Sara Andrade won it two weeks before.
She earned the honors following a week in which she recorded a three-set win at the No. 3 spot in the rotation to clinch the victory against No. 4 William Carey, the highest-ranked team the Generals have ever beaten.
After winning the first set 6-2 against Nadine Geschke, Alvarez dropped a close second set, 6-4. Alvarez rebounded to dominate the deciding third set, 6-1, to seal the big victory.
“Maria’s performance, this year, on the court, has been amazing,” LSUA Women’s Tennis Coach Melinda Descant said. “She is not intimidated by any player or any position in the lineup. She’s only a freshman and I look forward to watching her develop as a player as well as a young lady.”
The freshman won LSUA’s fifth RRAC Player of the Week honor this season and first National POW award.
LSUA plays host to Division I opponent Northwestern State on Friday at 1 p.m. in an exhibition match before tournament play begins.
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