ATHLETE OF THE WEEK - Fresno State's Alex Krohn has been named the Western Athletic Conference men's tennis Player of the Week.
Krohn, a senior from Santa Rosa, Calif., won both his singles and doubles matches on Jan. 25 in Fresno State's narrow loss at 21st-ranked USC. In doubles, Krohn teamed with Jakub Cech to take out Adriano Biasella and Bryan Wright 8-4, giving the Bulldogs the doubles point. In singles, Krohn, playing only his second dual match for 2-2 Fresno State, upset 59th-ranked Drew Hoskins at No. 2 singles 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
OTHERS NOMINATED - Tony Haerle, Rice and Dustin Taylor, Tulsa.
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUEBoise State - The Bronco mens tennis team travels to Seattle next week to take part in the ITA/USTA National Team Indoor Championship. The tournament is Feb. 5-8 at the University of Washington. The sixteen team winners for the regional team championships last November are who qualified to this tournament.
Fresno State - The Bulldogs are currently 2-2 and this week travels to Houston to play No. 38 Arizona on Saturday and No. 22 Rice on Feb. 1. Most recently, Fresno State dropped road matches at No. 6 UCLA and No. 19 USC.
Hawaii - The Warriors continue its week-long road trip with a match against Saint Mary's. The Jan. 26 match at San Francisco was postponed due to bad weather with the teams' splitting the six singles matches. The match will be made up at a later date with the score 3-3 and the doubles point needed to be decided.
Rice -The 24th-ranked Rice men cruised to a pair of 4-0 dual-match victories over Arkansas-Little Rock and New Orleans on Jan. 24 at the Met Business & Sports Club in downtown Houston. The third-ranked doubles team of William and Richard Barker kept their dual-match winning streak alive with an 8-2 victory against UALR's Bastian Faisst and Sebastian Falk. The Rice duo has now won 24-consecutive doubles matches in dual action, dating back to the 2002 season. At the three position, Robert Searle and Takehiko Morita teamed up for an 8-6 win against Jarrad Bunt and Mithun Murali to take the doubles point for the Owls. Barker, Tony Haerle and Vuk Rajevac swept their singles matches to secure the team victory.
SMU - SMU traveled to the University of Miami in their first road swing this year. Miami earned the doubles point to go up 1-0 entering singles competition. Despite a tremendous effort from all six singles spots, the Mustangs fell short, 4-3. The Henrik Soderberg/Peter Oredsson duo played at the No. 2 doubles spot for the Mustangs. They were the only SMU pair to win their match. Soderberg also went on to defeat his opponent, John Hoyes, in singles action. SMU was also able to claim victories at the No. 4 and No. 6 spots.
Tulsa - The Golden Hurricane own a team No. 48 ranking. Alejandro Tejerina is the 57th-ranked singles player, while Dustin Taylor own the No. 93 slot.Tulsa owns a 3-1 mark on the season. Tulsa will face 12 opponents that are currently ranked this season, including seven in the top-25.
ITA RANKINGS - Rice is the highest ranked WAC team in the most recent ITA rankings. The Owls are ranked No.22. Boise State is ranked No. 32, while Fresno State slips a spot to No. 37. Rounding out the top 50 is SMU at No. 39 and Tulsa at No. 48.
The Rice twin duo of juniors Richard and William Barker are currently ranked No. 3 after starting the season ranked No. 1.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN HOUSTON This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Houston, Texas at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on the campus of Rice University, April 30-May 2. The 2003 champion, Boise State, will look to defend its title.