BATON ROUGE — Men’s tennis senior Michael Venus and soccer midfielder Malorie Rutledge have been named LSU Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Week this week.
Venus captured the D’Novo All-American Championship over the weekend, defeating six ranked opponents along the way. Battling severe knee pain in the final match, he defeated the nation’s top-ranked player Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4, becoming the first LSU player to capture the title
In the tournament, Venus defeated two top-ten players, Nedovyesov and fourth-ranked Alex Clayton of Stanford. The men’s tennis team travels to Lexington, KY. For the Wilson ITA Fall Southeast Regional on October 16th.
Rutledge, a junior from Sharpsburg, Ga., scored four goals, including both game-winners, in LSU’s two home matches against SEC Western Division rivals last weekend.
On Friday against Auburn, Rutledge gave LSU the lead, 2-1, just 24 seconds into the first overtime and the team held on for a victory by that same score.
On Sunday against Alabama, Rutledge recorded her first career hat trick, including the game-winner just five minutes into the match, in a 7-0 rout of the Crimson Tide. She also tied her single-season assist record in the 67th minute, assisting on a goal by teammate Michelle Makasini that put the Tigers ahead 6-0.
For her efforts, Rutledge was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week along with being named to the national team of the week by Soccer America, Soccer Buzz and Top Drawer Soccer.
Rutledge is now the leading scorer in the SEC this season with seven goals and 12 assists for a total of 26 points. She also leads the SEC in conference scoring with five goals and six assists for a total of 16 points.
The Soccer team will host Vanderbilt this Friday at 7 p.m. and Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex.