Senior Simon Targett of the men’s tennis team has been selected as the George Mason University “Athlete of the Week.”
A 5-8 native of Surry, England, Targett had an outstanding weekend as he won the consolation championship of the “B” Flight singles and joined with senior Jay Gilliland to capture the consolation title of the “B” Flight doubles at the Virginia Collegiate State Championships at the University of Virginia.
Targett, who improved his fall record to 6-3, fell to Old Dominion’s Hiero Rodriguez (6-4, 4-6, 6-4) in his first match in the “B” Flight singles competition, but he came back to win four straight matches to capture the consolation title. He defeated Hampton’s Jay Brown (by default), James Madison’s Tim Brown (6-4, 6-3), Norfolk State’s Spencer Belcher (by default) and Virginia Tech’s Gerard Baynham (6-7, 6-3, 7-5) in the finals. Targett and Gilliland, now 5-2 this fall, lost their first match in the “B” Flight doubles to Old Dominion*s Alex Cancado and Nik Laca (8-4), but came back with three victories to capture the consolation title. They defeated James Madison’s Brown and Marty Pfannmuller (8-3), Radford’s Stuart Evans and Christianson (8-2) and Richmond’s Brock Parker and Alex Howard (by default) to claim the crown.
Targett figures to be one of the key leaders for head coach Gary Quam’s Patriots this season. He stands at No. 2 on the George Mason singles ladder (behind sophomore Jonas Furucrona), while he and Gilliland are at No. 2 in doubles (behind Furucrona and sophomore Juan Luzardo).
“Simon had a tough three-set loss in his first match, but he came back strong to play excellent tennis the whole weekend,” said Quam. “He showed his mental toughness by coming back from being a set down in the consolation finals to win the match. He just gutted it out and set an example for the rest of the team to build on.”
For his career, Targett currently owns a 43-43 record in singles and a 44-35 mark in doubles. He compiled a 19-9 mark in singles as a freshman, then dropped off to a 9-13 record playing at No. 3 as a sophomore and a 9-18 singles record at No. 2 as a junior last season. In doubles, he was 16-11 as a freshman, 11-8 mainly at No. 1 as a sophomore, and 12-14 as a junior last season, including a 7-8 mark with Gilliland mainly at No. 2.