March 17, 2015 IRVING, Texas - Baylor women's tennis sophomore Blair Shankle was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, league officials announced Tuesday.
The Dallas, Texas, native went undefeated in four matches this past week, going 2-0 in singles action and 2-0 in doubles play. Shankle helped lead the Bears to shutout victories at 10th-ranked Oklahoma State and at No. 23 Oklahoma.
In singles, the 31st-ranked Shankle opened the week with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over 78th-ranked Kelsey Laurente of Oklahoma State. On Sunday, Shankle followed up with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Simran Sethi clinching the 4-0 shutout.
With those two wins, Shankle improved to 9-1 in singles play and had won five straight matches. To open the week in doubles, Shankle and her partner Ema Burgic teamed up to upset the seventh-ranked duo of Viktoriya Lushkova and Kelsey Laurente, 7-5, at the No. 1 spot to give BU the doubles point against OSU.
The duo would team up again on Sunday and beat Oklahoma's Emma Devine and Malene Stripp, 6-4, clinching the doubles point for the Bears. Currently, the duo of Shankle and Burgic are 8-2, have won four straight matches and are ranked No. 10 nationally.
It is Baylor's 33rd Big 12 honor in the 19-year history of the Big 12 Conference. Shankle is the 17th Lady Bear to be recognized and the first since Jordaan Sanford won the honor on April 8, 2014.
In its next match, the sixth-ranked Baylor women's tennis team plays at No. 30 Texas A&M on Thursday at 5 p.m.
For the latest news on the Baylor women's tennis team follow its official Twitter account: @BaylorWTennis.
