Rigby named MVC men’s tennis athlete of the week

(Daily Egyptian file photo of Jonny Rigby)

By Austin Miller, @AMiller_DE
April 26, 2016

After securing one of the biggest wins in SIU men’s tennis history, one player is taking home an award.

Senior Jonny Rigby was named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week for the fifth time after winning both his doubles and singles matches Saturday, helping the Salukis beat No. 46 Drake on Saturday for the first time since 2009.

In the final regular season matches of his career, he defeated Drake senior Ben Lott in three sets. Rigby and his partner junior Piotr Baranski, who won the award last week, beat the Drake team of sophomores Ben Wood and Bayo Philips.

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The wins bring Rigby to 143 victories combined, good for No. 2 in SIU history. The Lancashire, England native is No. 1 in all-time doubles victories for SIU, and Saturday was his first doubles win against Drake since his freshman year.

SIU secured at least a share of the MVC title for the first time in program history and begins the MVC team championships on April 29 in Wichita, Kan.

Austin Miller can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3333