Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Athletes of the Week
3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM | General
OXFORD, Ohio ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃÆ'¢'¬" For their performances last week, junior pitcher Zach Spears and senior tennis player Nelli Ponomareva are Miami Athletes of the Week for the week of March 19-25.
Miami got yet another good start on the bump from Spears as he helped the 'Hawks to a series win over Eastern Michigan on the opening weekend of conference play. The left-hander went seven scoreless innings, allowing just five hits while striking out six. The Greenfield, Ind. native has been dominant over his last four starts. Over that span, Spears has 25.1 innings of work under his belt with a 1.42 ERA, just six runs allowed (four earned), an opponent batting average of .208 and 32 strikeouts. p> This is the first time this season in his career that Spears has been named Miami's Male Athlete of the Week. p> Ponomareva went 4-0 this past week and No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, helping the RedHawks to a pair of Mid-American Conference wins over Ball State and Northern Illinois. Versus the Cardinals, her and teammate Anastasiia Vasiukhina, picked up a 6-2 win in doubles and in singles play she captured a three-set win at No. 1 singles. Two days later, against NIU, she picked up a straight sets win (7-5, 6-4) and a doubles (6-2) victory versus the Huskies.p> This is the first time this season and third time in her career that Ponomareva has been named Miami's Female Athlete of the Week. She last won it for the week of April 4-10, 2016.p> The next Miami Athletes of the Week will be announced on Monday, April 2.
