ATHLETE OF THE WEEK - Hawaiis Dalibor Ptak has been named the Western Athletic Conference mens tennis Player of the Week.
Ptak, a junior from Tachov, Czech Republic (College of the Desert), has won his last six matches to improve to 6-3 in singles play. He owns a 6-2 record at No. 1 singles and is 4-4 in doubles action with partner Ryan Sceats. He defeated Gustavus Adolphus' Loren Collins, 6-2, 6-2 at No.1 singles and partnered with Sceats in 9-8 (4) victory over Brett Morse-Karzen and Adam Morgan at No.1 doubles. Hawaii defeated Division III's third-ranked team, Gustavus Adolphus, 7-0. UH is 2-9 in dual matches this season.
OTHERS NOMINATED None
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Boise State - The Bronco mens tennis team, after a rough sleep-deprived weekend in Seattle last week, are happy to be home to host Oregon and Denver this week. The Broncos will play this weekend on Friday and Sunday. Last week, the Broncos lost all three matches at the ITA/USTA National Team Indoors in Seattle. Boise State fell 4-0 to Kentucky, Washington and Baylor .
Fresno State - Fresno State (2-4) returns to the court this week for one at home and one on the road. The Bulldogs host 68th-ranked BYU on Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Wathen Tennis Center and two days later travel to play at Santa Clara at 1 p.m. Fresno State is looking to snap a four-match losing streak. The Bulldogs have been simply dominating against their next opponents. Against BYU all-time, Fresno State holds a 7-1 record, including a 4-3 victory last year in Boise, Idaho. Even more impressive is the team's record against Santa Clara. The Bulldogs are 11-0 against the Broncos, the last contest coming a year ago when Fresno State won 5-2.
Hawaii - Hawai'i swept all six singles matches and took two of three doubles contests against NCAA Division III Gustavus Adolphus, 7-0, Friday afternoon, in a match moved to the UH Tennis Complex. The Rainbow Warriors (2-9) were originally scheduled to make their season debut at the new Central Oahu Tennis Complex, but due to a scheduling mix-up, the match was moved to the Manoa campus, where the courts are due to undergo major reconstruction. The Warriors will now take a month of from competition.
Nevada - Nevada will travel to instate rival UNLV this weekend to compete in the 2004 UNLV Men's Tennis Invitational. The Pack will open the tournament against the Rebels on Friday at 1:30 p.m. The winner of the match will play in the winners bracket on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Earlier this week, Nevada claimed its first win of the season on Sunday, Feb. 10 taking down Weber State 6-1 on the campus of Utah State. While Nevada improves to 1-2 on the year, Weber continues to stay winless, dropping its fourth straight
Rice - On. Feb. 1, 23rd-ranked Rice defeated Fresno State 5-2 in dual-match action. The Owls' third-ranked tandem of William and Richard Barker continued to impress with an 8-3 victory against Greg Shearer and Jure Kekez at number one doubles. Rookie Ben Harknett teamed with sophomore Robert Searle for an 8-6 win against Alex Krohn and Jakub Cech to secure the doubles point for Rice. This week, the Owls play two more California schools, No. 3 Stanford and No. 11 California on the road.
SMU - SMU split singles action by taking the bottom half of the points. The four, five and six spots swept their opponents, defeating them all in two sets apiece. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the same held true for Tulane and the top half of singles. Tulane took the top three spots all in two sets as well. With singles action split right down the middle, the deciding point was found in doubles action. Tulane won all three doubles positions to earn that point and win the match, 4-3.
Tulsa -Alejandro Tejerina is the 57th-ranked singles player, while Dustin Taylor owns the No. 94 slot. Tulsa participated in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the first time in history, but notched an 0-3 mark in the tournament. Tulsa faced top-ranked Illinois, No. 9 Texas A&M and No. 13 Texas.TU has a 4-5 mark on the season (falling to five top-30 teams). Tejerina has 63 career wins at Tulsa to move into 10th-place on Tulsa's career singles leader list. Tejerina needs four more victories to match former Golden Hurricane standout Dane McGregor (1999-2002) who had 67 career wins.
ITA RANKINGS - Rice is the highest ranked WAC team in the most recent ITA rankings. The Owls are ranked No. 23. Boise State is ranked No. 33, while Fresno State slips two spots to No. 39. Rounding out the top 50 is SMU at No. 40 and Tulsa at No. 49. The Rice twin duo of juniors Richard and William Barker are currently ranked No. 3 after starting the season ranked No. 1.
NATIONAL TEAM INDOORS - Tulsa and Boise State played at the ITA/USTA National Team Indoor Championship in Seattle, Wash. This was Tulsas first trip to the national indoor tournament. Both schools went 0-3 at the prestigious tournament. Defending NCAA Champion, Illinois, repeated as ITA/USTA National Team Indoor Champions. Tulsa lost to Illinois in the first round, 4-0.
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.