March 25, 2009

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Thanks to the longest winning streak in the Division I era and the first national ranking in his career, freshman Ramiro Blanco, who has opened his career by winning 17 straight singles matches, has earned his first Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week award, the conference office in Macon, Ga., announced on Wednesday.

Blanco won all five of his singles and doubles matches in the last nine days, helping Upstate (17-2 overall, 5-0 A-Sun) to a perfect 3-0 mark at UNC Wilmington's Battle at the Beach and wins over two conference foes in Campbell and Kennesaw State. He went to three sets just once during the stretch of five matches, during Upstate's 5-2 win over No. 71 UNC Wilmington on Thursday, losing just 22 games in the 10 sets he won.

Blanco is a perfect 17-0 this season in singles play, having racked up the longest winning streak in Upstate's DI era and his doubles record of 11-5 give him an overall record of 28-5 this season, which is the same number of wins as his freshman doubles partner, Edgar Rodriguez, who is a perfect 5-0 with Blanco as his partner.

He also earned his first career national ranking on March 17, placing 110th in the Campbell/ITA Singles rankings and leading the Spartans to their first DI National Ranking of 72 in the same week. Blanco, a freshman from Chascomus, Argentina, joined current Spartan student assistant Sandy Franz as the only players in school history to earn Division I national rankings.

Blanco is the third Spartan to earn the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week award this season, as he joined juniors Jack Roux (Feb. 4) and Arnaldo Lovera (Feb. 11) as winners of the award. In two seasons in the A-Sun, five different Spartans have earned the award, as Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso (Feb. 1, 2008) and current junior Javier Tori (March 9, 2008) earned the award in Upstate's first year.

The Spartans get back in action on Friday when they return home to the USC Upstate Tennis Complex for an important A-Sun match with Jacksonville, who is 4-2 in conference. The match is set to start at 2 p.m.