San Diego State women’s tennis senior Jana Buth was awarded the Mountain West Tennis player of the week for the second time this season on April 4.
Buth first won the award back on Jan. 31, and has compiled an overall record in singles this season of 11-10, which includes 9-8 in dual, 2-2 on tour and 1-0 in conference play.
Buth received the award again after she defeated University of Nevada, Las Vegas No. 53 ranked junior Aiwen Zhu 6-1, 6-2 in a road match on March 30.
“Before I had the match (in Las Vegas), I didn’t even know that I was playing a ranked girl,” Buth said. “After I found out, and after I found out that I got that award. I played good, so of course it’s a good feeling.”
Head coach Peter Mattera has a mantra that an individual award is truly an award for the entire team, and Buth agrees.
“(Mattera) always puts it in good words, I think. When one player wins an award the whole team wins an award. So I think it reflects on the whole team,” Buth said.
Mattera said that Buth was well deserving of winning the award after the way she dismantled her opponent in Las Vegas.
“(Buth) is a very fine player…she beat a person that has lost only twice the entire spring,” Mattera said.
Mattera said that Buth displayed a lot of intensity on the court, which is important to see from a player who normally has a calm demeanor.
“(Buth) played with a lot of energy, a lot of aggression, and some anger,” Mattera said. “She is such a nice person sometimes she needs to get a little fired up out there.”
Buth said that she hopes this award gives her confidence for her final matches as the season wraps up.
“I hope that gives me confidence for the next few matches and makes me feel good on the court,” she said.
Only three matches remain before the conference tournament, and Buth said that the goal is to keep performing at a high level as the season winds up.
“My personal goal is that we win the next three matches, and hopefully I win my matches too… so that I can contribute to that for the team,” she said. “And then I hope that we are going to do really well in conference this year.”
Buth said that competition is going to be tough, and that she expects that the team who can have all of its players come together and play well on the same day will ultimately win.
“I think it is going to come down to what team, where everyone on the team can show up on the same day,” Buth said. “I think there are some teams that are really close, and pretty similar, so it just depends on the day probably who is going to win it.
The conference tournament begins on April 26 and will be played in Boise, Idaho.
