March 9, 2011
MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine's Andrew Putnam, Danielle Kang, Alex Llompart and Alfredo Moreno were awarded West Coast Conference Player of the Month honors, it was announced today by the league office. Putnam and Kang took home the recognition for their accomplishments during the month of February for men's and women's golf, while Llompart and Moreno were labeled men's tennis doubles players of the month.
Both Pepperdine and Santa Clara won in three of the possible 10 categories to lead all conference schools. Loyola Marymount laid claim on both baseball categories, Saint Mary's tallied a win in women's tennis doubles, and Portland and San Diego shared the men's singles player of the month honor.
Putnam (University Place, Wash./Life Christian Academy) and Kang (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake HS) gave Pepperdine the sweep in the men's and women's golf categories for the second time in 2010-11. Kang and Josh Anderson (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS) earned the season's first Player of the Month award for their outstanding play during the month of September.
Putnam won his second tournament of 2010-11 as he led wire-to-wire to become the medalist at the Arizona Intercollegiate, the first tournament of the spring. He shot a 7-under 206, which included a 6-under 65 in the first round, and even-par 71 in the second and a 1-under 70 in the third. He helped Pepperdine to a team finish of second place. One and a half rounds was played at the USC Collegiate Invitational on February 28 (it was suspended due to darkness), and at the time play was stopped Putnam was 2-over for the tournament. Putnam was ranked as high as #8 nationally by Golfstat toward the end of February.
Kang led the Waves with a tie for third place at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, the first event of the spring season. She shot a 7-over 220, which included a 1-under 70 in the second round. She helped the Waves to a team finish of a tie for fourth, with victories over three higher ranked teams (Michigan State, Ohio State and Louisville). Also, the first round of the Bruin Wave Invitational fell on February 28, in which she shot a 1-under 71. So in a total of four February rounds, Kang averaged 72.8 strokes and had two sub-par rounds. Kang was ranked #23 nationally by Golfweek/Sagarin toward the end of February.
Men's tennis keeps its streak alive, winning every doubles monthly award this season after Llompart (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and Moreno (Queretaro, Mexico) received the accolade. While it is the first time the pair has won the award together, Llompart has received doubles player of the month recognition with other partners in five of the last seven months it was awarded, dating back to February of 2009.
The dynamic duo went 6-0 in the month of February to improve their record to 10-1 overall. At the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, they topped a ranked doubles team from Notre Dame and were leading 7-5 versus an Auburn pair when the doubles point was clinched and play was suspended. For their efforts, they entered the Campbell/ITA doubles rankings on March 1 in the #68 spot.
