WAC MENS TENNIS NOTEBOOK
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK - Rice junior Robert Searle has been named the Western Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week. This is the first player of the week honor for Searle this spring.
Searle, a junior from Orpington, England, helped No. 31 Rice defeat No. 36 Alabama, 5-2. He defeated No. 31 Luigi D'Agord 7-6(6), 7-6(2) to move to 3-0 in dual match play. He teamed with Ben Harknett to defeat D'Agord and Sammy Stuyf 8-4, as the Owls won all three doubles matches to take the doubles point. Searle is now 3-0 at the number one ladder position. The Owls defeated No. 36 Alabama 5-2 to move to 2-1 on the dual match season.
OTHERS NOMINATED - Boise State's Matias Silva defeated Matt Baca of Cal Poly at No. 1, defeated Andrew Hogan of San Francisco at No. 2 and defeated Pacific's Jorgen Vestli at No. 2 Fresno State's Jakub Cech defeated James Wan of Stanford in straight sets to continue his dominating start to the dual match season. Cech, a sophomore, cruised past Wan by scores of 6-3, 6-2 to improve to 5-0 in singles Nevada's Adam Jooste went 3-0 on the weekend picking up No. 1 wins over Eastern Washington, Lewis & Clark State and Gonzaga. Two of his opponents he downed in straight sets, taking his match against Ara Sarkissian of Lewis & Clark to three with two going to breakers.
NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Boise State, ranked 41st in the national rankings, travels to the states of Oregon and California this week to play the University of Oregon (Fri., Feb. 11) and UC Santa Barbara (Sat., Feb. 12). In the most recent installment of the ITA (national coaches association) rankings, the Bronco mens team is ranked 41st. Bronco individuls who are ranked in ITA rankings include Luke Shields, 41st, Matias Silva, 55th, Thomas Schoeck, 89th and in doubles, Schoeck/Shields, 12th.
Fresno State dropped a 5-2 decision at seventh-ranked Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Center. Despite the loss, it was Fresno State's closest match with the Cardinal since 1996. Jakub Cech and Nicolas Mascheroni both posted singles wins for the Bulldogs, and Andy Sinn lost a super-tiebreaker in the third set. The loss was the first of the year for Fresno State, which started 4-0. Jakub Cech has started the dual match season in very strong fashion. The sophomore from Prague, Czech Republic, is now 5-0 in singles after cruising past James Wan of Stanford on Saturday. Cech was playing at No. 3 in the lineup for the first time this year and responded, winning by scores of 6-3, 6-2. He leads the team in overall singles victories with eight and is also 3-1 with partner Sergiu Modoc at No. 1 doubles.
Hawaii concluded its three-match homestand with a 7-0 loss to No. 49 Oregon on Jan. 28. The Rainbow Warriors (1-4) have fallen to three ranked teams during the past week. Earlier in the week, UH dropped 7-0 decisions to No. 26 Arizona and No. 41 Florida State. The Rainbow Warriors return to the court, Feb. 4, when they host Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne at the UH Tennis Complex.
Nevada picked up a big win, when it defeated Gonzaga in a narrow 4-3. Nevada jumped out to the early lead as they captured the doubles point. In the No. 2 doubles spot the Wolf Pack team of senior Brandon Sieh and junior Rafal Stupka defeated Gonzaga's team of freshman Cooper Fratt and junior Robert Penney, 8-2. In the No. 3 spot GU's sophomore Brett Womack and freshman Marco Pineda lost to junior Max Volger and freshman Eldar Dzhafarov , 8-4 and the No. 1 doubles spot did not finish.
Rice defeated No. 36 Alabama 5-2 to move to 2-1 on the dual match season. After sweeping the doubles matches, Rice then won its first three singles matches to defeat the Crimson Tide.Freshman Ralph Knupfer clinched the team victory in his first collegiate match with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Andrew Felsenthal at the five singles position.
SMU fell short in its bid to upend in-state rival Texas on Saturday, Jan. 29, falling 5-2 to the Longhorns. SMU opened up in strong fashion, winning the doubles point with victories at Nos. 2 & 3. Henrik Soderberg and Peter Oredsson teamed up for an 8-6 win at No. 2, while Gwinyai Chingoka and David Kuezer tallied an 8-5 win at No. 3.
Tulsa defeated its second opponent of the day, as it posted a 5-2 victory over the Bradley Braves at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The Golden Hurricane moves to 9-1 on the season. In singles play TU posted four victories. In the number two-ladder position, Aleksander Charpantidis defeated Matt Merully, 6-4, 7-6. Ricardo Soriano continued his perfect dual season mark, as he blanked Will Lofgren, 6-0, 6-0. Will Gray and Lucques Maasdorp also claimed victories for the Golden Hurricane.
ITA RANKINGS - Rice is the highest ranked WAC team in the most recent ITA rankings. The Owls are ranked 32nd. SMU is now No. 38, while Boise State is No. 43. Rounding out the top 60 is Tulsa at No. 47 and Fresno State and No. 54.
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, Rice, will look to defend its title.
THE UDWADIA ERA BEGINS - Fresno State has started 4-1 this year, the first under new head coach Jay Udwadia. The head coach took over in October after former coach Brad Dancer resigned just prior to the start of the 2004-05 school season to accept the assistant coaching job at Illinois. He comes to the Bulldogs from Drake, where in one year as that program's head coach he went 17-6 (7-0 Missouri Valley) and a league championship for the first time in 11 years. Udwadia was named MVC Coach of the Year for his efforts.