Fresh off consecutive victories of nationally ranked programs, the Hawai'i men?™s tennis team made its first-ever appearance in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association?™s Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings, released on Tuesday, jumping to No. 59. The Rainbow Warriors (5-4) had never previously been ranked by the computer generated poll, which lists the top 75 programs.
Under the leadership of third-year head coach John Nelson, the Rainbow Warriors upset then-No. 70 Purdue (5-2) and then-No. 40 Arizona State (4-3), last week, at the UH Tennis Complex. The Rainbow Warriors, winners of five of their last six matches, will host New Mexico State, Tuesday, at 4:00 p.m. Prior to UH, Nelson coached at San Diego State for 10 seasons and during that time, the Aztecs were consistently ranked in the ITA poll. He guided SDSU to the NCAA Tournament five times, including a Round of 16 showing in 2000. UH has never appeared in the NCAA Tournament.
In other news, freshman Sascha Heinemann was named the Western Athletic Conference?™s Player of the Week. UH?™s top singles player went 3-0 last week with straight set victories over both Purdue and Arizona State?™s No. 1 players. The Eschwege, Germany native has won his last six singles matches to push his season dual match record to 7-2.
Heinemann is the second Rainbow Warrior to be honored by the WAC this season. In the fall, senior Ryan Sceats was named the WAC?™s Player of the Month for November
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ?“ Hawai'i?™s Sascha Heinemann has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Men?™s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of March 20. This is his first honor for the spring.
Heinemann, a freshman from Eschwege, Germany, went 3-0 at No. 1 singles and 3-0 at No. 3 doubles last week. He won both of his matches in team?™s victories over No. 70 Purdue and No. 40 Arizona State. The freshman defeated Purdue?™s Kelubia Mabatah, 6-3, 6-0 and ASU?™s Chris Biro, 6-1, 6-0. He also won his match against New Mexico?™s Max Jones, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in team?™s 4-3 loss. He partnered with junior Chad Faulk for three wins at court three. Heinemann boasts a 10-6 overall singles record including a 7-2 mark in dual matches at the No. 1 position. UH?™s win over Purdue marked head coach John Nelson?™s first against a nationally ranked opponent in his three seasons at Hawai'i.
Other men?™s tennis nominees: Thomas Schoeck of Boise State was 3-0 in singles and the No. 2 spot … Rudolf Siwy of Fresno State went 2-1 in singles and 1-2 in doubles.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE ?“ There is one change this season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will now be held in Boise, Idaho on the campus of Boise State, April 20-23. The 2005 champion, Boise State, looks to defend its title. Last season, the Broncos took the title in Honolulu at Hawai'i.
STRONG SHOWING AT BLUE/GREY CLASSIC ?“ The Broncos defeated two ranked teams en route to the semifinals of the Blue Grey National Tennis Classic, March 16-18, before being knocked off by Notre Dame (No. 20). Before the loss to Notre Dame, the Broncos improved their consecutive match winning streak to 10 with a 4-2 victory over No. 53 Brown and a 4-0 win over No. 36 Middle Tennessee State. The Broncos are now 10-4 on the season.
Fresno State went 1-2 at the Blue/Grey Classic. The Bulldogs edged No. 33 South Alabama 4-3 in a thriller. After being delayed due to rain, the match began with singles. But the two teams were tied after singles play, sending the match into doubles. The Bulldogs then pulled out the victory behind seniors Sam Gibbs and Sergiu Modoc, winning 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. The duo trailed 6-5, broke serve, then served to take the lead and broke again to clinch the victory.
NEW MEXICO STATE SPLITS IN HAWAI'I ?“ New Mexico State split a pair of matches this week as they fell to No. 59 Hawai?™i 6-1 on March 21 and jumped back to the win column on March 22 with a 6-1 win over Hawai?™i-Hilo. The Aggies are now 12-7 overall and 3-1 in WAC play this season as their three-match winning streak was snapped on Tuesday with their first conference loss of the year.