Masha Vrsalovic, a senior from Cochabamba, Colombia, was named the WAC Singles Player of the Week ahead of what will be the team’s last home matches until April.

This past weekend, Vrsalovic, in her fourth season at ACU, dominated both of her singles matches. 

After taking the doubles point alongside Alice Klinteby, senior from Falkenberg, Sweden, on Friday, Vrsalovic set the tone for the rest of the team in singles play. She was the first Wildcat to complete her match, winning both sets 6-2.

Continuing that form on Sunday, Vrsalovic took both sets of her match, 6-1 and 6-4, again leading the charge for the Wildcats. 

Head Coach Bryan Rainwater said he has seen Vrsalovic grow and mature in her time at ACU and that, as a senior, she is part of the team’s foundation.

“She has talent out the wazoo,” Rainwater said, “but if she can be consistently mature and professional on the court, then she can beat really anyone in the country, I think.”

With this dominant performance, Vrsalovic was named the WAC Women’s Tennis Singles Player of the Week for the first time in her collegiate career. 

“I was surprised, honestly,” Vrsalovic said. “It’s exciting, and it kinda makes me think that I’m doing things right and I got to keep on working hard and trying to keep bringing that positive attitude that I have.”

Vrsalovic is the second Wildcat to win this award this season, with Klinteby winning just two weeks ago. Despite that, the team still knows that the job isn’t done yet.

“We’re happy about it, but we’d much rather be WAC MVP because that means your team won the championship,” Rainwater said. “And I think that’s their sole focus right now. Yeah, we want to beat everybody, but we want to be the one holding that trophy at the end of the year after the tournament.”

The Wildcats are now preparing for their upcoming homestand against the University of North Texas and Sam Houston, one of the Wildcats’ last home matches until early April.

Rainwater said he and the team are carrying momentum coming into the weekend and are looking to compete and do what they do. 

“I always tell the girls winning is a habit, losing is a habit,” Rainwater said. “And hopefully we’re getting on that habit of winning and really having that confidence to go out there instead of waiting on someone to give us the match. We’re gonna take it from them.”  

With 10 regular-season matches already in the books, the Wildcats will cross the season’s halfway mark this weekend. The team also has its sights set on their matches against WAC opponents, UT Arlington and Tarleton State, with the WAC Team Tennis Championships starting on April 17th. 

“We’re always watching what they’re doing,” Rainwater said. “We kind of keep an eye on everybody that we’re gonna play, but those teams are for sure always in the back of our mind because we want to know what we’re up against when we go into the conference tournament.”

As they look towards the back half of the season, the Wildcats are looking to build momentum for their extended road trip.

The team will take on UNT at home at the Judi and Cecil Eager Tennis Pavilion at 2:30 p.m. Friday. After a quick turnaround, the Wildcats will take on Sam Houston at 10 a.m. on Saturday.