SMU's Lesniak and Tulsa's Watling Earn Tennis Honors - CONFERENCEUSA.COM - The Official Athletic site of The Conference USA

SMU's Lesniak and Tulsa's Watling Earn Tennis Honors
C-USA Tennis Athletes of the Month

	Marta Lesniak, SMU

Dec. 6, 2011

IRVING, Texas - For the third consecutive month, SMU and Tulsa have swept Conference USA Tennis Athletes of the Month honors. Senior Marta Lesniak picks up her third monthly award, while Tulsa senior Ashley Watling earns his first award.

Tenth-ranked Lesniak won five matches en route to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championship at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She topped four opponents ranked No. 26 or higher, including two ranked in the top five. Watling teamed up with junior Clifford Marsland to finish runner up at the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Men's Doubles Championship in Flushing, New York.

WOMEN'S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE MONTH (NOV.)
MARTA LESNIAK, SMU
Senior / Wroclaw, Poland
Tenth-ranked Lesniak won five matches en route to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championship at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She topped four opponents ranked No. 26 or higher, including two ranked in the top five. She finished the title run with a 7-5, 6-1 victory against No. 26 Joanna Mather of Florida in the final. Lesniak defeated Sabrina Santamaria of USC, No. 5 Lauren Embree of Florida, No. 17 Mallory Burdette of Stanford and No. 4 Denise Dy of Washington to reach the championship match. Lesniak went 17-3 in the fall and is 102-18 (.850) for her career. She ranks third at SMU in career wins and second in career winning percentage.

MEN'S ATHLETE OF THE MONTH (NOV.)
ASHLEY WATLING, TULSA
Senior / Ipswich, England
Watling teamed up with junior Clifford Marsland to finish runner up at the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Men's Doubles Championship in Flushing, New York. The No. 4-ranked duo began their tournament with an 8-4 victory over Nikola Bubnic and Thibaut Visy of San Diego. They then defeated Michigan's No. 33 team of Shaun Bernstein and Evan King in the quarterfinals by a score of 8-6. In the semifinals, Watling and Marsland dropped No. 36 Nassim Slilam and Billy Federhofer of Florida 6-3, 7-5. The Tulsa tandem won the first set 6-4, but fell 7-5, 6-2 in the final two sets of the championship match to No. 3 Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State.