DENVER ?“ Fresno State?™s doubles team of Lucia Sainz and Katharina Winterhalter and Boise State?™s Luke Shields have been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Month for the month of October.
Fresno State seniors Sainz (Barcelona, Spain) and Winterhalter (Heitersheim, Germany) dominated most of the country in doubles play with outstanding performances in two fall tournaments. In early October, Sainz and Winterhalter blazed through the ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. In the first of three major tournaments during the 2005-06 tennis season, the Bulldogs began in the qualifying rounds only to finish in the national final. The Bulldogs were one point away from capturing victory in the championship match, but fell narrowly to No. 2 Thompson/Thompson of Notre Dame. They defeated four teams in the top 20, including No. 1 Basu/Robinson of Georgia.
Sainz and Winterhalter also won the Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Palo Alto, Calif. They defeated five opponents to take the title. It was the second time a Fresno State women?™s tennis doubles team had won the fall regional final.
Shields, a sophomore from Grand Junction, Colo., went 8-1 in singles, losing only to the No. 1 ranked player in the nation, Ryler DeHeart of Illinois (2-6, 6-2, 6-4). His singles wins include victories over players from Virginia, Arkansas, UNLV, BYU, Colorado and No. 28 Shannon Buck of Air Force. His win over Buck secured the ITA Mountain Region Singles Championship and a berth in the ITA National singles championship this coming Nov. 4-6. In the ITA preseason rankings, Shields is ranked 13th in singles.
In doubles, he and partner and senior Thomas Schoeck went 6-1 in October. Their only loss was to No. 51 Raini Luchici and Brad Pomeroy of North Carolina (8-6) in the All-American tournament. Their wins include the Mountain Region Championship match in which they defeated No. 42 Shannon Buck and Trevor Johnson of the Air Force Academy (8-1). They also earned a berth into the ITA National Doubles Championship this coming weekend. In the ITA preseason rankings, Shields and Schoeck are ranked fourth.
Other women?™s tennis nominees: Boise State?™s Tatiana Ganzha went 7-2 in singles in October … Idaho?™s Patricia Ruman was 2-1 in singles in October … New Mexico State?™s Isabelle Mignot was 2-2 in singles and 3-3 in doubles in October.
Other men?™s tennis nominees: Fresno State?™s Junior Jakub Cech advanced to the quarterfinals of the Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Championships Oct. 21-24 ... Hawai'i?™s Ryan Sceats advanced to the ITA North Western Regional Singles Main Draw Round of 32 and defeated Stanford?™s Ken Kao, 6-2, 6-4, in the Round of 64 … Idaho?™s John Hieb was 1-2 in singles including a straight set win … New Mexico State?™s Brice Magnanou was 8-4 in October winning all of his matches in straight sets.
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