Nguyen Named ASUN Player of the Week For 2nd Time in Career
4/5/2023 2:13:30 PM | Women's Tennis
Liberty’s Tiffany Nguyen has been named ASUN Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the second time in her career.
Nguyen’s weekly honor is her first since Feb. 17, 2021. She is the third Lady Flame this spring to garner the distinction. Sophomore Maria Juliana Parra Romero earned the award on two occasions (Jan. 18, March 8), and Esther Lovato received the honor on Feb. 8. Liberty leads all ASUN squads with four ASUN Player of the Week distinctions in 2023.
Nguyen’s award comes after a perfect 6-0 record last week against Queens (home), Furman (home) and Eastern Kentucky (road) last week. The junior was a perfect 3-0 in the No. 1 doubles position with Maria Juliana Parra Romero as her partner and an unblemished 3-0 in the No. 4 singles position.
Nguyen and Parra Romero’s 3-0 performance last week propelled them to becoming nationally ranked, No. 90, in this week’s ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. The duo got the week started with a 6-3 result over Katsiaryn Tuliakove and Hannah Axelsson of Queens on court one, last Wednesday. In singles, she took down the Royals’ Amelia Allard 6-1, 6-1 on court four to put the hosts ahead 4-0 in an eventual 6-1 triumph.
On Friday morning versus Furman, Nguyen and Parra Romero earned their first ranked doubles win. The pairing edged the Paladins’ No. 69 Jess Dawson and Sara Snyder in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (6), providing the Lady Flames the doubles point. In singles, Nguyen knocked off Dawson 6-0, 7-6 (4) in the No. 4 slot.
Nguyen capped off the perfect 6-0 week with another doubles win and singles victory at EKU, Sunday. The junior teamed up with Parra Romero again for a 6-2 win against Masha Fedenko/Elena Tairian. Nguyen and Parra Romero improved to 5-1 in doubles, this spring. Nguyen’s victory marked career doubles win No. 70 in her time at Liberty. She is the seventh player in program history to reach 70 career doubles victories.
In singles, she improved to 9-0 in the No. 4 slot with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Daniela Hernandez for his 60th win in a Liberty uniform. Nguyen has won seven straight singles matches and leads the Lady Flames with 15 victories against just three losses.
Liberty has received 12 ASUN Player of the Week awards since joining the league prior to the 2018-19 school year.
Nguyen and Liberty (14-7, 5-1 ASUN) turn their attention to their second-to-last conference match of the season on Thursday morning. The Lady Flames will face the Stetson Hatters (15-6, 5-1 ASUN) in a rematch of the 2022 ASUN Women’s Tennis Championship title contest. Match time is 10 a.m. at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center in DeLand, Fla.
Liberty’s 2023 ASUN Women’s Tennis Player of the Week Honorees
Jan. 18 – Maria Juliana Parra Romero
Feb. 8 – Esther Lovato
March 8 – Maria Juliana Parra Romero
April 5 – Tiffany Nguyen
