ATHLETE OF THE WEEK - Fresno States Lucia Sainz was named the Western Athletic Conferences womens tennis Player of the Week. This is her first honor of the spring.
Sainz, a sophomore from Barcelona, Spain went 2-0 in both singles and doubles as 14th-ranked Fresno State cruised past No. 72 Minnesota and No. 50 Missouri by 7-0 scores. The sophomore teamed with Katharina Winterhalter to drop a combined five games in their two doubles matches. The duo is now 16-5 (6-4 dual) on the season. In singles, Sainz was just as dominating, losing only six games in her two matches, both of which she played at No. 5. She improved to 15-8 (8-4 dual) and continued her incredible turnaround from a season ago, during which Sainz won only six matches all year. Behind the Sainz, the Bulldogs have won nine of their last 10 and have become the highest ranked team in the WAC.
OTHERS NOMINATED Lauren Fitzgerald, Hawaii; Tracie Chong, Rice and Ilona Sommers, Tulsa.
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Boise State - The 64th ranked Boise State women's tennis team defeated Kansas in their final match in Hawaii by a score of 6-1. The Broncos now return home and next week host BYU and Rice in the Barbara Chandler Classic April 2-4.
Against Kansas, Boise State picked up doubles wins at the first position with Jemima Hayward and Erin Polowski, and at the second spot with Alissa Ayling and Megan Biorkman. In singles, Bronco victories came at one (Hayward), two (Polowski), four (Biorkman), five (Carolina Pongratz) and six (Tiffany Coll).
Fresno State - The 13th-ranked Fresno State women's tennis closed out their four-match homestand in style on March 24 with an emphatic 6-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara at the Wathen Tennis Center.
The win was the 11th in 12 matches for the Bulldogs (12-2), who are now 6-0 at home on the year and 62-7 since the opening of the Wathen Center in 1998.
Fresno State, which was playing its fourth match in seven days, returned to form one day after appearing fatigued and listless in a 5-2 win over Kansas State. Five Bulldogs won their singles matches in straight sets, and the three doubles teams dropped just nine games combined.
Fresno State now heads to Tucson, Ariz., for two key matches. The Bulldogs take on No. 36 Arizona on March 27 at 2 p.m. before playing No. 24 Harvard in a neutral-site match on March 29 at noon. The two opponents are the only top 40 teams remaining on Fresno State's schedule. With Fresno State currently ranked 13th, the team is placing itself in good position to host an NCAA Regional in May.
Hawaii - Lauren Fitzgerald finished 2-1 in singles and 1-2 in doubles action last week. Fitzgerald defeated No. 43 Maja Kovacek of New Mexico in straight sets. She defeated preseason No. 78 Orsolya Sallai of Washington State in straight sets - is 10-7 in singles dual matches this season. UH is 7-11 on the year with eight losses coming against nationally ranked teams. UH has a WAC record of 3-1.
Louisiana Tech - Louisiana Tech's win over Lamar was only the second victory of the season for the Techsters and came after a long layoff in the midst of quarter break at Louisiana Tech. Tech didn't play a match between dropping a pair of matches (to Hawa [ii and UTEP) in El Paso on Feb. 14 and defeating Lamar on March 13. Saharai Uriarte is the only Techsters with a winning singles record with a 5-4 mark after going 2-2 in No. 2 singles and 3-2 in No. 3 singles play. Louisiana Tech's Monica Kelly has a .500 record on the season, going 3-2 in No. 2 singles, and 1-2 in No. 3 singles. Anabella Duque has Tech's best singles games record at 81-66, including a 24-1 mark in No. 4 singles.
Nevada - Nevada continued to look for its second win of the season after it was blanked 7-0 at Saint Mary's . The win was the fourth straight for Saint Mary's and improves to 6-9 on the season, while Nevada drops to 1-11 on its eighth consecutive loss of the year. The Wolf Pack was unable to collect a single match, and not one singles match saw three sets. Sophomore Myriam Bouchlaka was one of two Pack players to put up the bet fight. Bouchlaka played at the No. 1 spot for the first time this year and lost 6-2, 6-3 to Aude Lambert, who won her fourth straight at the position. Freshman Fiorella Velez was the other to lose 6-2, 6-3 this time at the three spot. Velez deopped to Megan Schulman, who won her sixth match of the year. Nevada will return to action next weekend when it travels to compete in the UC Irvine Invitational on March 28-30.
Rice - After sweeping doubles, the 58th-ranked Rice women's tennis team held on in singles to defeat Central Florida 4-3 March 17 at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. The Owls (8-6) take the next week off before returning to the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium to host crosstown rivals Houston on March 26 at 3 pm followed by TCU on March 27 at 1:30 pm.
San Jose State - The San Jose State University womens tennis team defeated Sonoma State by a score of 4-3 in a non-conference match on March 17. The Spartans won every doubles match and three out of the six singles matches. Ana Lukner, Courtney Koenigsfeld, and Elke Harms won in singles action. Lukner did not lose a point posting victorious scores of 6-0, 6-0. The Spartans will return to action Saturday, March 27 against Southern Utah.
SMU - The No. 42 SMU women's tennis team improved to 10-6 on March 23 afternoon, easily defeating No. 69 Cal-Poly at Haggar Tennis Stadium, 6-1. The Mustangs dominated all afternoon, winning seven of nine matches on the day. Up 1-0, the Mustangs cruised through singles play, taking five of six matches. Svetlana Kouzmenko and Kit Carson both won in three sets at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Jenny Langer won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, as did Naudia Vaughan at No. 4, repeating the same winning score. Lynsie Jones won at No. 5 in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. SMU returns to action Friday Mar. 26 when it hosts Middle Tennessee at 2:00 p.m.
UTEP - No. 75 Texas Tech swept UTEP, 7-0, on Friday at the McLeod Tennis Center in Lubbock, Texas. The Red Raiders took the first two doubles matches to take the 1-0 lead going into singles. The tandem of Danielle King and Tea Spirta improved their win streak to seven, defeating Hristiyana Gocheva and Lakann Wagley, 8-5. The win improves their record to 11-3 at the No. 3 spot, 6-1 in the southwest region. The Miners dropped six singles matches to give Texas Tech the win. The Miners (9-7) are off until April 2, when they face I-10 rival New Mexico State in Las Cruces for the second time this season. The Miners won the first match 5-2 in El Paso.
Tulsa - Tulsa owns a No. 51 team ranking. Daniela Muscolino earned a No. 61 ITA singles ranking Muscolino and Ilona Somers teamed up to earn a No. 42 ITA doubles ranking. The Golden Hurricane owns a 9-5 mark on the season, notching a 2-0 conference mark and a 4-5 record against ranked opponents this season. Tulsa's 51st-ranked women's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to 17th-ranked Tulane on March 21 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on The University of Tulsa campus.
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, Fresno State, will look to win its third-straight title.