OLLU's Ekpenyong, Xavier's Akinnibi receive RRAC tennis weekly honors

WACO, Texas – David Ekpenyong of Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) earned the RRAC Men's Tennis Player of the Week award for March 11-17, while Kyra Akinnibi of Xavier University (La.) captured the RRAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week honor for the same date. This is the seventh set of weekly winners for the 2024 RRAC tennis season.

Ekpenyong guided the Saints to a four-match sweep as hosts of the OLLU Saints Invite at Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio. The freshman from Akwa Iborn, Nigeria, won three singles matches and four in doubles. Each of Ekpenyong's singles victories came in straight sets including a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho), and a 6-4, 6-2 win over Missouri Baptist University. OLLU didn't lose a single match during the tournament, winning 7-0 in three of the duals and 5-0 over MBU. The 23^rd-ranked Saints are now 13-6 on the season.

Akinnibi earned hard-fought wins at singles and doubles as the Gold Nuggets narrowly lost, 4-3, to the University of West Florida, the 12^th-ranked team in NCAA Division II. The graduate from London, England, rallied to defeat Guadalupe Martinez, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, and she teamed up with Kareemah Muhammad to win in doubles, 6-3. Akinnibi was a 2021 second team NAIA All-American with Xavier and returned to the team in January. She is 7-1 in singles since then. Xavier is ranked fifth in the NAIA with a record of 9-3 on the season.

Additional RRAC tennis player of the week nominees: Jacobi Bain (Xavier), Millie Wileman (Our Lady of the Lake).

Previous 2024 RRAC tennis weekly selections: