DENVER ? The WAC women’s tennis teams have concluded their Fall seasons and will take the month of December to prepare for the Spring season to start in January and February.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH ? Fresno State’s Anastasia Petukhova has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Month for November. This is the second Player of the Month honor for Petukhova this Fall season.
Petukhova, a sophomore from Moscow, Russia (A.M. Gorky), performed brilliantly during the Duals in the Desert in Palm Springs, Calif., Nov. 2-4, going 2-0 in both singles and doubles. Petukhova beat No. 19 Vanja Corovic of Texas in straight sets (6-2, 7-5) and then topped Baylor’s Jana Bielikova in three sets (6-1, 3-6, 6-3). In doubles, Petukhova and teammate Renata Kucerkova beat Baylor’s Bielikova and Filipiak before advancing to top Davison and Larsson of Texas, both by the score of 8-4.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Stacey Housley of Boise State advanced to the Flight 2 singles championship at the Husky Invitational in Seattle, Wash., before falling to Washington’s Aleksandra Malovic, 6-4, 6-3. En route to her consolation second-place finish, Housley defeated Portland State’s Dalkin (6-0, 6-1) and Tanzer (6-1, 6-0) and Washington’s Wong (3-6, 6-4, 6-1).
BOISE STATE ENDS FALL SEASON AT MATADOR INVITATIONAL ? Boise State’s women’s tennis team finished out the 2007 Fall season at the Matador Invitational hosted Nov. 10-12 by Cal State Northridge. Two Bronco juniors, Jana Mackova and Laura Baum, registered a combined 3-2 singles finish as well as a 2-2 doubles record.
In singles play, Mackova finished the Matador Invitational with a 2-1 record. After falling in the first round to Jill Damion of Santa Barbara, 6-4, 6-1, she bounced back to top both UC Santa Barbara’s Marta Simic in a quick 6-4, 6-2 match followed by a 6-3, 6-0 win over Canna Furuta of Cal State Northridge.
In doubles play, the Bronco duo teamed up for a 2-2 finish over the three-day tournament. Baum and Mackova topped Brittany Doane and Kristy Foretell of Cal State Northridge in a close 9-8 match with a 7-4 tiebreaker. Advancing to the second round, the Broncos dropped a 8-5 match to Pepperdine’s Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Kosakowski, moving to the backdraw. Baum and Mackova then topped Jill Damion and Asagi Onagao of UC Santa Barbara, 8-4, before falling in their final match.
FRESNO’S GLORIA AND ROWE REPRESENT BULLDOGS AT ITA NATIONAL INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS ? The 11th-ranked pair of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe opened up the ITA National Indoor Championships with a 8-6 victory over No. 13 Megan Falcon and Hannah Robinson of LSU, winning their ninth-straight match as a duo. Gloria and Rowe then fell in the doubles quarterfinal round in a close 8-6 match to Broosova and Zemenova of Baylor.
Gloria also competed in the singles draw at the ITA National Championships and opened the tournament with a straight-set win over Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova, improving to 5-2 this Fall season. In much the same fate as her doubles action, Gloria fell in the singles round of 16 to Baylor’s Taylor Ormond in a narrow 6-2, 7-6 (4) match.
KUCERKOVA AND PETUKHOVA SOLID AT DUALS IN THE DESERT ? Fresno State’s Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova competed in the Duals in the Desert Invitational in Palm Springs, Calif., where the sophomore sensations won the doubles bracket by default. The pair topped Texas’ Davison and Larsson, 8-4, before beating Bielikova and Filipiak of Baylor 8-4 in the semifinals.
In first-round singles action, No. 47 Petukhova beat No. 19 Vanja Corovic of Texas 6-2, 7-5 and went on to top Baylor’s Bielikova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. No. 43 Kucerkova beat No. 84 Courtney Zauft in the first round in straight sets, before topping Clemson’s Van Adrichem, 6-3, 6-4. Teammates Petukhova and Kucerkova would have met in the final of the Flight 1 singles bracket, but opted not to play each other.
RAINBOW WAHINE CLOSE OUT FALL SEASON AGAINST NO. 2 STANFORD ? Hawai?i concluded its Fall season with a mock dual match against defending Pac-10 champion and No. 2 Stanford at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui. In doubles play, the duo of senior Chloe Bihag and sophomore Sophie Kobuch earned an impressive win over the team of Lindsay Burdette and Whitney Deason, 9-7, at the No. 1 position.
IDAHO ADDS POLISH POWERHOUSE TO LINEUP ? The Vandals bolstered their roster with the addition of Polish transfer, Barbara Maciocha, who joins Idaho from Gdansk University in Northern Poland and brings with her an impressive resume. Most notably, Maciocha excelled in the Polish National Classification tournaments where she won the under-18’s title in doubles and finished second in singles. Maciocha will hit the courts with Idaho for the first time as the Vandals kick off the spring season at Lewis-Clark State College on Jan. 19.
TECHSTERS WRAP UP FALL SEASON AT PEPSI CHALLENGE ? The Louisiana Tech women’s tennis team completed competition at the Pepsi Challenge hosted by UL-Lafayette with the Lady Techsters taking three wins. The duo of Ashley Wedderburn and Alexandra Gasper defeated Centenary’s Courtney Meyers and Kate Buchannan. Singles action saw Rocio Juarez and Wedderburn both get wins.
NEW MEXICO STATE’S COACH BALL RECEIVES AWARD ? New Mexico State coach Don Ball was recently honored with the Southwest Section USTA/ITA Community Service Award as announced by the ITA. The award is granted to only 12 Division I coaches and honors them for significant contributions in developing community-based tennis programs.
NEW MEXICO STATE CONCLUDES FALL SEASON AT UC IRVINE INVITATIONAL ? Aggie sophomore Aleksa Costa and freshman Bianca Discorida capped off their undefeated weekends with victories in the final day of the UC Irvine Invitational. Costa earned wins over UC Riverside’s Yasaman Sakhakorn (6-2, 7-5), Shawnell Russell of Loyola Marymount (6-0, 6-0) and San Diego’s Kimmi Dao (6-2, 6-2) to finish the Fall at 6-6. Discordia pulled out victories over UC Riverside’s Alexandra Khoury (6-0, 6-2), Amiee Oki of Northern Arizona (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) and San Diego’s Valerie Tang (6-4, 7-5) to finish the Fall season at 7-5.
NEVADA TANDEM REACHES QUARTERFINALS AT REGIONALS ? Nevada’s doubles team of Caroline Bailly and Maria Mizyuk reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Regionals at Stanford. The duo, seeded seventh in the event, faced Sacramento State’s Luba Schifris and Katsiaryna Zheltova in the round of 16 with the Nevada pair taking an 8-5 win. Bailly and Mizyuk fell in the quarterfinal round by score of 8-3.
SJSU WRAPS UP FALL SEASON WITH WINS AT STANFORD FALL TOURNAMENT ? San Jose State’s Ashley Tavita overcame knee pain and a tough draw to notch a pair of wins in consolation singles during the final day of the Stanford Fall Women’s ITA Tennis Tournament. Tavita topped Gonzaga’s Rika Mehndiratta, in straight sets and then battled Lindsey McBride of Santa Clara for a three set victory.
UTAH STATE ENDS FALL SEASON AT UTAH FALL INVITE ? Utah State competed in a round robin style tournament at the University of Utah to wrap up the fall season. Sophomore Brianna Harris and junior Bridgette Strickland had wins in singles and doubles, while sophomore Britney Watts tallied a singles win.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES ? This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will return to Las Cruces, New Mexico on the campus of New Mexico State, April 24-27. The 2007 champion, Fresno State, will look to win its seventh-straight title. Last season, Fresno State took the title at the Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, defeating second-seeded Boise State, 4-0.
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