ST. PETER, Minn. – Men’s and women’s tennis players Mohanad Alhouni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) and Katie Aney (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) have been selected as the Gustavus Adolphus College April Male and Female Student-Athletes-of-the-Month, presented by Thrivent Financial and voted on by the Gustavus Sports Information Department.
Mohanad Alhouni
Men’s Tennis
Hometown: Tripoli, Libya
High School: West Lutheran
Major: Management
Parents: Eenam and Khaled Al-Houni
In the month of April, Alhouni helped guide the No. 6-ranked Gustavus men’s tennis squad to an 8-3 record while posting a 6-1 singles and 7-1 doubles record at the No. 1 position against stiff competition. Gustavus finished the regular season with a 21-8 overall record and 9-0 mark in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference en route to earning the program’s 30th consecutive regular season title.
In singles play, four of the six victories came against nationally and regionally ranked opponents, along with four of the seven doubles victories with teammate Patrick Whaling (Jr., Manakin Sabot, Va.). On April 13, Gustavus upset the No. 3-ranked University of Chicago 6-3 in a rematch of last season’s NCAA Central Region championship. Alhouni defeated Erik Kerrigan, the No. 8 player in the region at singles and won 8-7 at doubles with Whaling.
Alhouni’s sole singles loss of the month came against Nikolai Parodi of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the top-ranked player in the West Region. The only double loss also came against CMS, the No. 2-ranked pair in the West Region in Julian Gordy and Parodi.
On April 21, the Gusties defeated No. 40-ranked Carleton College 8-1 for their 300th consecutive MIAC regular season victory. Alhouni won both his matches at the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles positions against top-five regionally ranked opponents and earned his ninth career MIAC Athlete of the Week accolade.
Earning his second monthly award of the year, Alhouni also was the Athlete of the Month in February. He currently ranks No. 1 in both singles and doubles in the Central Region.
Katie Aney
Women’s Tennis
Hometown: Rochester, Minn.
High School: Century
Major: Biochem and Molecular Biology, Mathematics
Parents: Tom and Karen Aney
Aney, the No. 22-ranked player in the central region, was undefeated in the month of April during singles competition, going 8-0 while competing at the No. 1, 2, and 3 positions. She also went 5-4 at the No. 2 doubles spot as the No. 28-ranked Gusties finished the regular season as MIAC Champions, going 10-0 during conference action.
The Gusties opened the month of April with four wins over nationally ranked opponents, including wins over No. 39-ranked DePauw University and No. 38-ranked Carleton College. Gustavus competed at the Midwest Invitational in Madison, Wis. April 6-7, going 1-2 against three ranked opponents. The Gusties defeated DePauw 6-3 prior to falling 8-1 versus No. 10-ranked University of Chicago and 7-2 against No. 22-ranked Kenyon College. Aney stood out for the Black and Gold as she was unbeaten during singles play. Competing at the No. 3 singles position, Aney went 3-0 as her play was highlighted by earning the team’s sole point against Chicago, winning 6-0, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. For her performance, she earned MIAC Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week.
Aney closed out the regular season competing mainly at No. 2 singles for the remainder of the schedule, including a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles versus Ali Kopiecki of Hamline University on April 29. Aney is one of three Gusties that are unbeaten during MIAC singles competition, with a 10-0 record.