A year ago Boise State won its second WAC title, defeating Rice, 4-3, at the Hawaii Tennis Complex in Honolulu. The Broncos used all of four and half hours to earn the win, when Eric Roberson won in the third set at No. 5 singles, clinching the match. Boise State won its first WAC title in 2003.
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Boise State is the top seed in the 2006 tournament, while Fresno State is the second seed. Hawai'i is the third seed, while first-year WAC school New Mexico State is the fourth seed. Utah State will be the fifth seed this season followed by Nevada and Idaho as the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively.
Boise State looks to repeat this season, returning most of its championship team. Boise State is the only WAC team in the top 25, with a No. 23 ranking (as of April 11). Boise State is 18-6 this season behind the play of Luke Shields and Thomas Schoeck. Shields is 24-10 this season, while Schoeck is 20-8. The Broncos had won seven-straight before losing San Diego and Colorado before ending the regular season with a road win against Denver, 6-1.
Fresno State enters the WAC Championship with a 13-6 record Cech has had an outstanding year, compiling a record of 13-4 in dual matches. He had three big wins against top-25 opponents: Arizona?™s Roger Matalonga, Washington?™s Alex Slovic and Boise State?™s Luke Shields. He currently is ranked No. 63, but has been as high as No. 52. Seniors Sam Gibbs and Sergiu Modoc earned well-deserved ranking in the latest doubles rankings. They came in at No. 49 and immediately proved worthy when they beat a solid Schoeck and Shields combination from Boise State.
Hawai'i is 9-5 this season. The Warriors had won six-straight matches before losing to then-No. 2 ranked Pepperdine, 6-0. Hawai'i made its first-ever appearance in the ITA?™s Fila Collegiate Rankings at No. 59 (March 21) after a pair of victories over then-No. 70 Purdue and then-No. 40 Arizona State. Freshman Sascha Heinemann earned WAC Player of the Week honors on March 21 following straight set wins over Purdue?™s and Arizona State?™s No. 1 players.
Idaho has had a tough first season in the WAC with a 2-20 regular season record. The Vandals grabbed their first win of the season with a 5-2 victory over Northern Colorado (Feb. 4). Idaho got singles wins from Timothy Huynh, John Hieb, Anthony Karlovic, Paulo Miranda, and Ned Hayley. Idaho?™s other team victory came in a 4-3 win versus Weber State (March 12). John Hieb, Miranda, Joel Trudel and Hayley won singles matches for the Vandals.
Nevada is led by former Wolf Pack standout, Chad Stoloff, who is in his first season as head coach. Stoloff came back to Nevada, via Honolulu, where he was an assistant coach at Hawai'i. Guillaume Tonelli leads the Pack in wins with 12 singles victories and five doubles wins. He also earned Player of the Week honors for March 6. Nevada is returning four letterwinners after losing two. This season, the Wolf Pack is 5-15.
New Mexico State is led by Tim America and Stjepan Beg who are both 12-8 this season. The Aggies have won four of their last six matches. New Mexico State ended the season with a 5-2 win over the College of Santa Fe. This is the Aggies first year as a member of the WAC. Danilo Zivanovic was a first team all-Sun Belt selection in 2003. Marc Legris was a first team all-Sun Belt selection in 2001. He was also a first team all- Big West pick in 1999 and 2000. The Aggies best Sun Belt Conference Championship finish was fifth in 2004.
Utah State got above .500 in its last match with a 5-2 win over Weber State. The Aggies are now 9-9 this season after losing to Idaho State.Freshman Bryan Marchant leads USU in singles victories with 10 as of April 11. The Aggies posted a six-match winning streak between February 5th and March 17th. Junior Joao Pinho earned Big West Conference second-team honors in singles and doubles play during the 2004-05 season. Utah State finished sixth in the 2005 Big West Conference tournament.PLAYER OF THE WEEK ?“ Boise State?™s Thomas Schoeck has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Men?™s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of April 19. This is the second-straight week the Broncos have been honored.
Schoeck, a senior from Renningen, Germany, played in his final regular-season home match. The All-American recorded victories in both singles and doubles competition. On Senior Day, Schoeck defeated Oscar Plotnik of the No. 37 San Diego Toreros. Schoeck and All-American teammate Luke Shields, the nation?™s 18th-ranked doubles team, also knocked off Plotnik and Thomas Liversage at the No. 1 doubles position. Schoeck and Shields capped an undefeated week of doubles competition with victories over Marko Bundalo and Eric Molnar of No. 28 Colorado, and Nejc Smole and Steve Flaks of No. 62 Denver. Schoeck, ranked No. 122 in singles, also posted another singles victory over Niklas Persson of Denver. Schoeck is now 19-8 this season in singles and 20-9 with Shields in doubles.
Other men?™s tennis nominees: Charles Irie of Fresno State was 1-0 in singles and doubles as the Bulldogs defeated UC Santa Barbara, 5-2.