Feb. 22, 2011

IRVING, Texas--For the first time in her career, sophomore Courtney Collins earned Conference USA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors as announced by the league office on Tuesday.

The Fulton, Miss., native becomes just the sixth women's netter at the U of M to garner the honors, with the most recent being teammate Kelly Gray who earned the weekly award in April of last season after she posted a perfect 8-0 record on the week.

Collins was recognized for becoming the first-ever nationally-ranked singles player in program history, currently ranked 107th, and for her impressive victory in her first match as a ranked player; a 6-2, 6-2 win over Paulina Schippers at No. 63 Auburn in the Lady Tigers' last outing. Collins is 5-3 at the No. 1 slot for the Lady Tigers this season.

"It really is shocking," Collins said. "It hasn't really hit me yet that I kind of made history. I wasn't expecting to get this at all, but I'm definitely motivated by this to do even better and work even harder. This is awesome."

The Lady Tigers are back in action on Thursday, March 3, when they make their way to Cary, N.C., to face North Carolina Central at 11 a.m. ET, before heading to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take on the Tar heels of UNC in a match slated for 6 p.m.