Panoulas Earns BCBSNC Athlete of Week Honors

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville men's tennis player Thomas Panoulas is this week's recipient of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Athlete of the Week at UNC Asheville.

 

Each week the school selects a BCBSNC Athlete of the Week upon their performance from the previous week.

 

Panoulas opened the fall tennis season with an impressive performance at the USC Upstate Fall Classic. He captured the men's singles white draw with four wins in three days.

 

Panoulas was seeded eighth in the event. He defeated Alejandro Bejar of Presbyterian in the first round, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 on Friday. On Saturday, Panoulas won two matches. He roared past Will George of Kennesaw State, 6-1, 6-0 and then rallied past top-seeded Ramone of USC Upstate, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to earn a berth in Sunday's finals.

 

On Sunday, Panoulas dominated second-seeded Alejandro Valencia of Kennesaw State, 6-1, 6-4 to claim the title.