St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s tennis programs swept United East Conference weekly honors Tuesday, with junior Jacob Nelson and sophomore Lily Ganjbaksh both named Player of the Week following strong showings at the Washington College Invite to open the 2026-27 season.
Nelson earned his third career United East weekly honor after going 1-1 in singles play Sept. 11-12. He dropped his opening match to Washington College’s Aidan Thomas-Cogar, 1-6, 6-3, 3-10, before rebounding with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 win over Albright College’s Enrico Pucci. Nelson, who helped anchor the Seahawks’ No. 2 seed run in the United East Championship last spring, has now claimed the conference’s weekly honor in multiple seasons.
Ganjbaksh, competing at the same invite Sept. 12-13, posted a 2-1 singles record and a 2-2 mark in doubles. She opened with a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Washington College’s Antonia Kousiou, then bounced back with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Albright’s Nadia Margaritov before outlasting Division II opponent Lauren Hayes of Millersville, 5-7, 6-3, 10-5, in a three-set battle. It’s Ganjbaksh’s fourth career league weekly honor; she was previously recognized as a first-year player in March 2026 after a strong run through conference play.
Both Seahawks squads return to action Saturday, Sept. 19, traveling to Washington, D.C., for non-conference matches against The Catholic University of America. The St. Mary’s men (facing a Catholic team that opened 1-0) and women (facing a Catholic team that opened 0-1) will each play at 11 a.m.
