SOMERSET, N.J. – Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis freshman
Teodors Pukse was named the Northeast Conference Player and Rookie of the Month for February on Thursday, as announced by the league office.
The freshman from Riga, Latvia, earned his second NEC Rookie of the Month award and first NEC Player of the Month honor by starting a perfect 8-0 at the no. 1 singles position for the Knights, helping them to a 4-4 start to the spring and a 1-0 record in NEC matches.
Pukse won six of his eight matches in straight sets, defeating opponents from Hofstra, Delaware, Navy, Concordia (N.Y.), Queens, NJIT, St. Francis Brooklyn and Monmouth. Pukse was especially impressive in his first sets, winning seven of the eight first stanzas by a 6-3 score or better. He has only dropped one singles set that wasn't in a tiebreaker, against Hofstra in his first match of the season.
The freshman also collected doubles wins at the no. 1 spot with
Niclas Pietsch against Navy and at the no. 2 spot with
Andris Gudins against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Including the fall season, Pukse has a 16-5 record in singles this season and is 8-7 in doubles.
The Knights (4-4, 1-0 NEC) play two NEC road matches this weekend, first traveling to Merrimack for a 4:30 p.m., match on Friday, March 6, before going down to Bryant on Saturday, March 7, for an indoor match at 12:30 p.m.
