DENVER ? Fresno State’s Melanie Gloria and Dennis Lajola of Hawai’i have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for the week of Jan. 14-20. This is the sixth career Player of the Week honor for Gloria, winning twice as a freshman and three times her sophomore season. This is the first career honor for Lajola, making his debut for the Rainbow Warriors.
Gloria, a junior from Montreal, Canada (Georges-Vanier), performed brilliantly during the Cal Winter Invitational in Berkeley, Calif., Jan. 18-20, finishing perfect in both singles and doubles. Gloria beat former NCAA Champion and current No. 10 Susie Babos of Cal in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) and then topped Nevada’s No. 48 Maria Mizyuk, also in straight sets (6-0, 6-1). In doubles, Gloria and teammate Tinesta Rowe, currently ranked No.1, went 3-0, including wins over ranked opponents, No. 32 Caroline Bailly and Maria Mizyuk of Nevada (8-6) and No. 36 Susie Babos and Stephanie Kusano of Cal (9-7).
Lajola, a freshman from Aiea, Hawaii, (Isabella Colleges), made his much anticipated debut for Hawai’i, starting his career at a perfect 2-0 in singles. Lajola defeated No. 68 Sam Chang of No. 18 Florida State (7-5, 6-3) at the No. 1 position on Jan. 18, before going on to beat Bijan Hejazi of UC Santa Barbara (7-6, 6-4) at the No. 2 position. In doubles, Lajola and teammate Jeff Fitch defeated Chang and Kykut of No. 18 Florida State (8-5) at the No. 1 doubles position.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Sophie Kobuch of Hawai’i led the Rainbow Wahine at the Hawai’i Invitational, finishing 2-1 in singles and a perfect 3-0 in doubles play. Kobuch defeated No. 16 Katie Rybakova of 19th-ranked Florida State (6-4, 0-6, 6-1) and Alabama’s Tiffany Welcher (6-3, 6-2), and also paired up with teammate Chloe Bihag at the No. 1 doubles position to defeat Zheltova and Jarlkaganova of No. 56 Sacramento State, 9-8 (2), No. 19 Florida State’s Walter and Rybakova (9-7) and Ardie and Simpson of No. 72 Washington (8-4).
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Andrey Potapkin of Idaho was a perfect 4-0 in singles, defeating Marcos Verdasco of Oregon (6-3, 6-2), Weber State’s Sascha Kiehne (6-0, 2-0, ret.), Kyle Erickson of Portland State (6-0, 6-1) and Portland’s Joel Kincaid (5-7, 7-5, 6-3) ... Jakob Asplund of Utah State helped the Aggies to a 1-1 start, as he defeated Montana State’s Kyle McDonald in straight sets (7-6, 6-1) at the No. 1 position, and paired up with teammate Jonas Tyden to defeat McDonald and Dybala of Montana State (8-1) at the No. 1 doubles position.
-WAC-