Paval Earns Big 12 Honor

April 2, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. -- University of Oklahoma junior Costin Paval was named the Big 12 men's tennis Player of the Week, announced by the league office on Monday.

“It is nice that Costin is getting recognized for the way he has been playing recently,” John Roddick said. “Playing No. 1 singles and doubles is always a lot of pressure because you're always playing the other team's best players. Those are always tight matches and he has done a really good job of separating himself from a lot of them. He has really dominated in singles and it is nice he is getting recognition for it. We are appreciative of the honor and Costin is well deserving of it.”

Paval, the nation's 17th-ranked singles player, was instrumental in leading the Sooners to wins over No. 13 Texas and 25th-ranked Texas A&M, which helped OU jump out to a 2-0 record in Big 12 play.

The Bucharest, Romania, native opened conference action with a decisive 6-2, 6-3 win over Texas' Soren Hess-Olsen, ranked No. 64, on Friday, March 30. Following his efforts in Austin, Paval downed A&M's 29th-ranked Alexis Kelgou, 6-4, 6-0.

In doubles, Paval and freshman Dane Webb, ranked No. 13, also collected two wins over nationally ranked tandems beginning with an 8-5 win over UT's 27th-ranked Chris Camillone and David Holiner. On Sunday, April 1, the OU duo edged the Aggies' Ore and Withrow, 9-8.

Big 12 Player of the Week Release | Costin Paval Bio

On the year, Paval has held down the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles where he boasts a 10-2 singles record and 11-3 in doubles. He becomes the first Sooner in the Roddick era to earn the conference honor. Sergey Avdeyev was the last Sooner to earn conference Player of the Week Honors at the end of the 2009 season.

Paval and his Sooner teammates will travel to Houston, Texas, on Sunday, April 8 to take on Rice at 11 a.m.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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