It was a busy week for the spring collection of College of Staten Island sports teams, and in the wake the Dolphins are celebrating a trio of awards from men’s tennis and softball from the City University of New York Athletic Conference. Senior Alex Tsui won Men’s Tennis Player of the Week honors, joining his Doubles partner Ivi Selenica who took home Rookie of the Week citations. Over on the softball diamond, Sierra Kaplanek won CUNYAC Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season after a monster weekend.
A two-time CUNYAC All-Star, Tsui was a force for the Dolphins as they won their second and third-straight games last week, including a win in their CUNYAC opener against first-place Hunter College. First against St. Joseph’s College of Long Island, he scored an 8-2 win in the No. 4 Singles position against Kenneth Petterson and he teamed with Selenica to win at No. 1 Doubles, 8-4. He then finished with a Doubles win with Selenica against Hunter’s team of Nasser Ghaffar and Omer Khalifa, 8-4. Then in Singles, he was the clinching point, winning at No. 4 against Jose Agregado, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). So far this season, Tsui is 3-1 overall in Singles and he is 3-1 in Doubles.
Selenica plays in the top spot in Singles and Doubles, and was also a major reason for the Dolphins recent surge. Selenica scored a win in Singles against St. Joseph’s College in the No. 1 position by defeating Ryan Freeley, 8-3. He also teamed with Tsui to record an 8-4 win in No 1 Doubles. Against first-place Hunter College, Selenica was a part of the win when he teamed again with Tsui to record an 8-4 win over HC’s Nasser Ghaffar and Omer Khalifa. For the season, Selenica is 1-2 in Singles play and 3-1 in Doubles, all in the No. 1 position.
Meanwhile, Kaplanek was busy dominating on opposing fields of play in softball, helping the Dolphins to a 4-0 weekend. It was a record-breaking weekend, as Kaplanek tied the school record for home runs in s single game when she belted not one, but two grand slams in a 26-0 win over Baruch on Sunday. She finished with nine RBI in that game alone, a new CSI record, and part of an unfathomable 17 RBI in the four game stretch, giving her 25 for the season. All told, she batted .533 with two doubles as well, slugging 1.067 on the week. Kaplanek is batting .477, with a team-best 25 RBI, six doubles and three home runs. She is slugging .818.
The Dolphins will continue their seasons this week. CSI Tennis travels to Brooklyn College today with their three-game win streak on the line, while CSI Softball will pick up on Thursday at William Paterson University for a non-conference doubleheader.
