DENVER ? With only a few competitions left in November, the 2007 men’s fall tennis is coming to a close. The WAC schools were well represented at their ITA Regional Championships, with several individuals qualifying for the ITA Indoor Championships and several others bringing home consolation titles.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH ? Boise State’s Luke Shields has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Month for October.
Shields, a senior from Grand Junction, Colorado (Grand Junction), went a perfect 6-0 through singles play to capture the 2007 ITA Mountain Regional championship. Shields also advanced to the ITA Nationals, where he finished with an 0-2 mark. The fifth-ranked player in the nation, Shields’ run to the Mountain Regional title included a win over his brother, Clancy, in the singles championship match. Shields also teamed with his brother in doubles play at the Mountain Regional, finishing with a 2-1 record.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Jim Brouleau of New Mexico State went 6-2 in singles play in the month of October. He won the top singles flight title at the UNM Balloon Fiesta Classic to claim his second singles title of the fall ... Fresno State junior Rudolf Siwy went 6-3 in October and was a participant in the prestigious ITA All-American in Tulsa, Okla. ... Sascha Heinemann of Hawai?i won three straight matches in the qualifying draw of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships to qualify into the main draw. He also won two matches in the main draw of the Western Regional Championship ... Utah State’s Jakob Asplund defeated No. 24 Jakob Dybala in the round of 128 at the ITA Regional in Las Vegas, and finished October with a 3-2 singles mark.
SHIELDS BROTHERS QUALIFY FOR ITA INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS ? Boise State’s Luke Shields and Clancy Shields earned spots at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Indoor Tennis Championships hosted by Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The Shields’ brothers were two of 32 singles players competing in the four-day tournament.
Luke Shields, who is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA’s pre-season fall poll, earned his way to the championships after winning the Wilson/ITA Mountain Region Championships over his younger brother Clancy. The senior entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and faced No. 94 rated Dalibor Pavic of Drake University in the first round of play. Shields dropped a tough match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, sending him to the consolation bracket. On the second day, Shields took on No. 2 ranked Steve Moneke of Ohio State, falling in a 6-2, 6-4 decision, leaving him 0-2 at the tournament.
The No. 38 ranked Clancy Shields qualified for the championships in Ohio after finishing as a Wilson/ITA Mountain Region Finalist. In the first round, the junior took on the No. 8 ranked Andre Begemann of Pepperdine and topped him in a convincing 6-2, 6-4 match. In the main draw second round of 16 Clancy faced No. 19 rated Daniel Vallverdu of Miami, dropping a well fought 7-6 (4), 6-4 match, exiting the tournament with a 1-1 record.
The two losses ended the Shields’ brothers run at the 2007 ITA Championships as well as their 2007 fall season.
BOISE STATE’S ROBERSON ADVANCED TO QUARTERFINALS OF CHANDLER CUP ? Boise State’s Eric Roberson advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2007 Chandler Cup hosted by Cal-Berkley after going 2-0 in singles play on Oct. 26. In first round play he topped Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Drew Jacobs in a 6-4, 6-3 match, followed by a quick win over the tournament’s No. 1 deed, Pierre Mouillon of Cal Berkeley, 6-1, 6-4.
After going 2-0 in the first two rounds of the Flight A ITA singles competition, Roberson fell 6-4, 6-2 to No. 8 seeded Patrick Fischer of the University of Washington on Oct. 27.
SIWY AND VEEREPALLI REPRESENT FRESNO STATE AT ITA REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ? Fresno State junior Rudolf Siwy opened up ITA Regional competition in Malibu, Calif., as he defeated Ryan Mayer of UC Irvine 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets. Siwy went on to beat Philip Therp of UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the round of 32. In the third round, Siwy took a tough loss in the main draw to San Diego’s Dean Jackson, when he fell 7-5, 6-3.
Sophomore Tejesvi Veerepalli started out the ITA Regional competition with an opening round loss to UC Santa Barbara’s Bijan Hejazi, placing him in the consolation bracket for the remainder of the tournament. Veerapalli bounced back to defeat Renzo Maggi of Loyola Marymount, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the second round of consolation. He then won his second-straight match in the consolation rounds, in a narrow defeat of Bruno Alcala of Arizona, 7-5, 7-6. Veerepalli breezed through the quarterfinals and semifinals, and then beat Arizona’s Jay Goldman in a super-tiebreaker to complete his run of six-straight wins to claim the singles consolation title.
FRESNO STATE FRESHMAN CAPTURES TWO TOURNAMENT TITLES ? Fresno State freshman Siddharth Alapati captured the Flight 3 singles title in the Bulldog Classic in Fresno, the first tournament of his collegiate career, when he ousted Cal’s Nicolai Horgen 6-2, 6-4, finishing the tournament 4-0 in singles.
Alapati won his second singles title of the fall season after beating Fresno Pacific’s Marco Foelz in straight-sets of the Flight 2 final at the Rebel Classic in UNLV on Nov. 4, finishing the fall season with a record of 8-1.
HEINEMANN STRONG FOR RAINBOW WARRIORS ? Hawai?i junior Sascha Heinemann won three-straight matches in the qualifying draw of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., to qualify for the main draw. Heinemann made quick work of David Kuczer of SMU, Stetson’s Hicham Laalej and No. 67 Ricardo Soriano to qualify for the main draw round of 16. The No. 50 ranked junior was then eliminated by Dominik Daescu of Oklahoma, 6-3, 7-5 in the main draw first round.
Heinemann also won two matches in the main draw of the Wilson/ITA Western Regional Championship in Malibu, Calif., where he was seeded No. 8. He ousted Achim Ceban of No. 46 San Diego State in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the third round, where he went on to beat Nick Meister of No. 8 UCLA, 6-3-7-6. Heinemann was then eliminated from competition when he fell to Dean Jackson of San Diego, 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16.
VANDALS HAVE STRONG SHOWING IN LAS VEGAS ? Behind the strong play of Stanislav Glukhov and Andrey Potapkin, Idaho had a solid showing at the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament in Las Vegas. In singles play, the Vandals went a combined 16-14 in the tournament, led by Glukhov’s five match wins and Potapkin’s four wins. Glukhov was bounced from the main singles draw in the round or 64, but then ripped off four straight victories in the consolation bracket before falling to No. 30 Thomas Shubert of BYU. Potapkin also stacked up several impressive victories, advancing to the round of 32 in the main singles draw before being relegated to the consolation bracket by No. 13 Chris Parkes of New Mexico. Potapkin dominated his first two consolation opponents in quick straight set victories, before falling in a narrow defeat to No. 11 Wes Hancok of Utah, 7-5, 6-4.
GARCIN ADVANCES FOR WOLF PACK AT ITA REGIONALS ? Nevada sophomore Laurent Garcin earned the fifth in the Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Championships at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Wash. On Oct. 12, Garcin won his first match against Cooper Fratt of Gonzaga, 6-2, 6-2. The sophomore then teamed up with Guerin Smith to win their doubles match over Matt Jagiello and Kevin Liang of UC Davis, 8-6. In singles action, Garcin beat Portland’s Joel Kincaid, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the round of 16, before falling to Cal’s Pedro Zerbini, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1. Garcin and teammate Smith also fell in doubles action in the round of 16 to Fischer/Obenaus of Washington, 8-3.
NEW MEXICO STATE’S BROULEAU WINS UNM BALLOON FIESTA CLASSIC ? New Mexico State freshman Jim Brouleau won the top flight at the New Mexico Balloon Fiesta Classic by defeating host New Mexico’s Miles Bugby, 6-2, 6-2, to claim his second singles title of the fall season, in just his third career fall tournament. The freshman received the top seed of the tournament’s top singles draw and received a bye in the opening round. He then made quick work of Northern Arizona’s Bradley Bristow, defeating him in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the quarterfinals. He reached the championship match after notching two more victories at the Lobo Tennis Center, the first over Derek Lynch, 6-2, 6-2, before downing Joe Wood, 7-6, 6-1, both members of the New Mexico Lobos team.
UTAH STATE’S ASPLUND BEATS NO. 6 RANKED SASCHA KIEHNE ? Utah State freshman Jakob Asplund defeated No. 6 Sascha Kiehne of Weber State on the first day of action at the University of Utah Invitational on Oct. 11. Asplund defeated Kiehne, 7-5, 6-1 in the round of 32, but eventually fell to BYU’s Thomas Shubert, 6-2, 6-0, to be eliminated from tournament action.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES ? This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Las Cruces, New Mexico on the campus of New Mexico State, April 24-27. The 2007 champion, Boise State, will look to win its fourth-straight title. Last season, the host Boise State took the title at the Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, defeating second-seeded Fresno State, 4-0.
- WAC -