SEC Tennis Weekly Awards: Week 5

Men’s Player of the Week

Raphael Perot	Alabama
Sr.	Octeville-sur-Mer, France

Raphael Perot earned a pivotal ranked win over No. 34 Edward Winter in a match where every win was necessary in order for the Aggies to take down Pepperdine, 4-3. Perot earned his fourth ranked win of the season after beating Winter, 6-4, 6-2. Perot is 4-2 against ranked opponents for the year. He also split doubles matches for the week, with partner Tiago Pires, they defeated the TAMU-CC duo of Etienne Marty/Avery Zavala on court 1, 6-1.

Men’s Freshman of the Week

Aleksi Lofman	LSU
Fr.	Helsinki, Finland

Aleksi Lofman joined the LSU team this semester and has already excelled on the court as a freshman. He has a 4-3 singles record and a 3-1 doubles record. Lofman has had two wins on the No. 1 singles court. In the match against Memphis, Lofman tied up the score to 3-3. He went to three sets in his match against Harry Rock. Lofman won set two and the tiebreaker in set three making the final score of the match 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(10-8). Lofman’s win helped to lead LSU to their first Top 25 win. On the No. 1 doubles court, Lofman teamed up with Stefan Latinovic to face the No. 25-ranked duo of Pablo Alemany and Charlie Barry. LSU quickly took the first win of the match by a score of 6-3. This was the fourth appearance for this Tiger duo on the No. 1 court and after today’s match, their record was improved to 3-1.

Women’s Player of the Week

Loudmilla Bencheikh	Alabama
Jr.	San Juan, Puerto Rico

Loudmilla Bencheikh helped led Alabama to its first Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic title since 2015, after the Crimson Tide defeated three top 50 ranked opponents. The 37th-nationally ranked doubles duo, Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser, went 2-1 in doubles matches during the tournament, which included a 7-6(3) win over No. 42 Arizona’s Brandelyn Fulgenzi and Reece Carter to start the weekend. The two also defeated No. 24 Illinois’ Megan Heuser and Alice Xu. Bencheikh won two-out-of-three of her singles matches, including a three-set victory to clinch the win over No. 24 Illinois’ Megan Heuser (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) after the junior fell behind in the first set. The Angresse, France, native defeated No. 22 Texas Tech’s No. 59 Cristina Tiglea also in three-sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-0) during the Tide’s come-from-behind victory over the Red Raiders for the title.

Women’s Freshman of the Week

Priya Nelson	Texas A&M
Fr.	Lima, Peru

Priya Nelson played a huge role in Alabama’s 4-2 win over No. 22 Texas Tech to secure the Crimson Tide’s first Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic title since 2015. Nelson filled the sixth spot in the lineup during the last match of the weekend and clinched her singles match against Jermine Sherif, 7-5, 7-6(5), which finalized the title for Alabama.