Mankato, Minn. - Two newcomers and two returnees are among four Bethany Lutheran College athletes who have been recognized with Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Player of the Week honors.

Women’s tennis player, Rebecca Kopacek joins the Player of the Week club with her performance against Martin Luther College a week ago Monday. She bested her counterpart 6-0, 6-0 to help the Vikings defeat the Knights 6-3.
 
Cory Ferm (Adel, Iowa) wins the conference’s Pitcher of the Week award for the second straight week. He followed up a complete game shutout of Minn.-Morris in his previous outing with another complete game shutout of Northland College last Saturday. Ferm struck out 11 Cougar batters and bumped that 12 against the Lumberjacks. His 61 strikeouts this season by far leads the UMAC (next closest is 27). He is now 4-2 on the season with a 1.52 ERA.
 
Joining Ferm with honors from the baseball team is Mitch Sellers (St. Paul, Minn.) who won UMAC Player of the Week. The junior infielder went 4-for-8 in the doubleheader sweep of Northland with a pair of doubles, six RBIs, and hit his first home run of the season. Sellers is now batting .275 and is tied for the team lead with 10 doubles.
 
Nicole Starkson is honored again as UMAC Pitcher of the Week for her performance on the mound as the Bethany softball team went 3-1 in games last weekend. This marks the third time this season Starkson has earned distinction; twice as a pitcher and once as a player.
 
In the first game of a doubleheader on Friday against Northland, Starkson pitched her third complete game shutout of the season striking out 11 Lumberjills batters in the process. In the nightcap against St. Scholastica on Sunday, she came on in relief with two outs in the sixth and struck out the last four Saints batters to pick up the save in a 10-8 win. She leads the UMAC in wins (7), ERA (2.03), and strikeouts (99).