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Weekly Women's Tennis Release
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State senior Courtney Jantz has been named the Western Athletic Conference Womens Tennis Player of the Week. This is the first player of the week of the spring.
Jantz, a senior from Spring, Texas, helped Fresno State open the 2004-05 dual match season with a 6-1 victory over Santa Clara. The senior started in doubles, where she teamed with Lucia Sainz to breeze past Kelly Leathers and Erika Barnes at No. 1. That moved the tandem, currently ranked 19th in the nation, to 10-2 on the year. In singles, Jantz had an easy time with Kimberly Daniel at No. 4 singles, winning 6-2, 6-1. The Texan improved to 7-6 on the year in singles. The Bulldogs victory over Santa Clara was their 16th in a row at home, dating back to a loss to ninth-ranked William and Mary in 2003.
OTHERS NOMINATED Rices Blair DiSesa helped Rice open the dual match season at 2-0 ... Posted wins over Lamars Andrea Martinez, 7-6(2), 6-0, and Prairie View A&Ms Marika Dawkins, 6-0, 6-0. She teamed with Dominique Karas to defeat Lamars Martinez/Shelander 8-1 ... SMUs Jenny Langer collected her first overall singles win in the No. 1 position against Sam Houston State winning in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 ... Tulsas Carla Zabaleta posted a perfect 2-0 in singles, including one win at the No. 1 ladder position. In doubles, Zabaleta and Daniela Muscolino defeated the No. 1 team from ORU of Sonia Bailey and Emily Arkell.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN HONOLULU This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii on the campus of the University of Hawaii, April 21-24. The 2004 champion, Fresno State, will look to win its third-straight title.
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE The Boise State womens tennis team will play at the University of Washington, Saturday, January 29. It is a tall order for the Bronco women as the Huskies are ranked 10th nationally. The Bronco women are led by three seniors - Alissa Ayling, Anna Curtolo and Carolina Pongratz. Ayling and Curtolo have been been with the Broncos since the fallof 2001 as freshmen. Pongratz following the following year as a sophomore, transfering from Florida Gulf Coast University.
Fresno State takes two weeks off before hitting the road for its next two matches. The 21st-ranked Bulldogs (1-0) hit the road Feb. 11 to begin a two-match trip that starts with a contest at 64th-ranked UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Following that will be a match against fourth-ranked UCLA on Feb. 12 at noon. The stretch begins a road-heavy schedule for the next month for Fresno State, which just has one home match between now and the end of February.
Nevada women's tennis coach Kurt Richter has resigned due to personal reasons, the school announced. Assistant men's coach Jay Stearley will serve as interim coach, effective immediately, and men's head coach Ryan Johnston will temporarily oversee both programs while a national search for Richter's replacement is conducted. Richter began his career at Nevada in 1987-88, coaching both the men's and women's teams until Johnston, the current men's coach, took over the men for the 1998-99 season. In his 17-plus-year tenure, Richter accumulated a 305-253 record (55 %), producing 11 winning seasons with the women and eight while in control of the men's program.
San Jose State doesnt begin spring dual match play until Feb. 1 with a dual match with Saint Marys in Los Gatos, Calif.
The SMU womens tennis team battled through cold temperature, but still managed to dominate both Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M. The Mustangs downed TSU 5-0 and then came back in the afternoon and took care of Prairie View 7-0. The team lost only nine games the entire day. SMU is off to a fine start, winning its first four matches.
UTEP begins spring tennis with a dual match against No. 42 Arizona on the road on Jan. 27. The Miners then take on No. 39 Sacramento State on Jan. 28. Both matches will be played in Tucson, Ariz.
Tulsa defeated Saint Louis, 6-1, sweeping the singles matches after losing the doubles point. The Golden Hurricane also beat Oral Robets, 7-0. Tulsa starts dual match play 2-0.
LOOKING BACK AT THE FALL
MUSCOLINA FALLS AT NATIONAL INDOORS Junior Daniela Muscolino Tulsa's Daniela Muscolino dropped her first two matches at the 2004 National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by the University of Michigan at the UM Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor. Muscolino lost her first match on Thursday, Nov. 4, to Suzi Babos (California), in three sets, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2. In the first round of competition in the consolations draw, Muscolino dropped her match to Jennifer Magley (Florida), in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6 (5). Muscolino's play in the tournament wraps up the fall competition for the Golden Hurricane women's team. They will return to action in January.
HAWAII RETURNS HOME After two brief mainland stints, Hawaii continues early-season tournament play, this time playing host to the first-ever Rainbow Wahine Tennis Invitational, beginning Thursday, Nov. 11, at the newly renovated UH Tennis Complex. With some of the top collegiate womens tennis teams in the country competing in the event, Hawaii is hoping to make a positive impression early in the season. Competing in this weeks tournament are No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 39 Arizona, and Texas State. Arizona features the No. 1 ranked doubles team in Maja Mlakar and Dianne Hollands. Hollands is also currently ranked No. 7 in singles.Hawaii has been led in singles play by senior Kimberly Curtis, who played her way into the main draw of the ITA Western Regional Championships on Oct. 21, and has posted an overall record of 2-4 in tournament play. Fellow seniors Lauren Fitzgerald and Paige Mainor have excelled on the doubles side, heading into the Rainbow Wahine Tennis Invitational with a 2-2 season record.