St. John's University Athletics
Kaneda and Groves Named BIG EAST Doubles Team of the Week; Sotelo Tabbed Singles Player of the Week
4/8/2024 3:03:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Groves and Kaneda win the award for the second straight week
QUEENS, N.Y. – Ryota Kaneda and Adam Groves have been named BIG EAST Doubles Team of the Week for the second straight week and Armando Sotelo was tabbed the conference's Singles Player of the Week, as announced by the conference on Monday.
Kaneda and Groves picked up wins in all three of the Red Storm's victories last week while Sotelo went 2-0.
The St. John's duo started the week by taking down Severin Risan and German Lopez Andujar, 6-3, in the Red Storm's 4-2 victory over NJIT. Against Marquette on Saturday, they bested Ivan Vazquez and Teddy Wong, 6-1, pushing the Johnnies to a 7-0 sweep of their BIG EAST foes. Finally, they helped St. John's shutout Fordham, 6-0, in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, triumphing over John Mascone and Stefan Stojanovic, 6-1.
Groves and Kaneda have won seven matches in a row as a pair. They become the first St. John's duo to win back-to-back Doubles Team of the Week honors since Alex Vila Antuna and Ignacio Garcia won the award three straight weeks from March 17 through March 30, 2022.
Sotelo picked up victories against NJIT and Fordham, helping guide the Red Storm to victories in both matches. Against the Highlanders, the freshman picked up the match-clinching fourth point in the Johnnies' victory, taking down German Lopez Andujar, 6-2, 6-4. In the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, Sotelo earned a three-set victory over Fordham's D. Virdee-Oakley, 6-1, 7-6, 7-3, helping the Red Storm to its sweep of the Rams.
Sotelo has won five straight matches this season and has an 8-2 singles record in his rookie campaign.
St. John's has won six weekly awards from the BIG EAST this season. Leonardo Mileikowsky, Ignacio Vinas and Carl Gustavsson were previously tabbed Singles Player of the Week while Vinas and Leon Petko were named the conference's Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 5.
Following today's match against Queens College, the Red Storm will head to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to face Georgetown.
Players Mentioned
