Opata, Vaval win GCAC's weekly awards again
April 20, 2009

     NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Anastesia Opata and Mikhail Vaval are repeat winners of Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards in tennis.
     Opata, a junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., and Central Gwinnett High School, won the women's award a season-high third time. She was unbeaten in singles and doubles in two duals and extended her winning streaks to five singles matches and 10 doubles matches. Opata is 16-5 in singles — she's won 15 of her past 16 — and 17-3 in doubles in 2008-09. Opata was 19th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's NAIA singles rankings of April 6 and 10th in doubles with Angelina Callis.
     Vaval, a sophomore from New Orleans and De La Salle High School, joined teammate Terry Richardson as the only two-time winners of the men's award this year. Vaval did not lose a game in singles or doubles in the only Gold Rush dual and improved to 12-8 in singles and 11-6 in doubles this season.
     Xavier will be the No. 1 seed in the men's and women's divisions of the GCAC Tournament, which will begin Friday at Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala. Xavier won five of the past seven women's championships and three of the past four men's championships.