April 3, 2008

CLEVELAND--Miami University freshman tennis player Anastasia Dracheva (Moscow, Russia/1862 High School) earned her second Mid-American Conference weekly award, being named the MAC Player of the Week on April 2.

Dracheva went 2-0 in singles action to remain undefeated in dual match play to spearhead Miami to its best Mid-American Conference start since 1998-99 as the RedHawks defeated Akron 7-0 and Buffalo 5-2 last week. Miami is 3-0 to start the league season with all three of its wins coming on the road.

Dracheva pounded out a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles against Akron's Tanyaradzwa Gombera on March 28 and teamed up with Brintney Larson at No. 1 doubles to produce an 8-2 win against the Zips as Miami recorded its seventh 7-0 win of the season, the most by that margin by a Miami team since going to the seven-point format. It also was the second straight 7-0 win for the RedHawks, who had also defeated Ball State by that score on March 22 to open MAC play.

On March 29, Dracheva pulled out a three-set (6-4, 2-6, 6-2) win against Buffalo's Andreea Novaceanu to push her singles record to 10-0 all coming at No. 1 singles. The 5-2 win at Buffalo snapped a three-match losing skid in the all-time series to the Bulls.

Dracheva also was named MAC Player of the Week on Jan. 30.