Denver ? Boise State’s Clancy Shields and Fresno State’s Anastasia Petukhova have been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Players of the Month for the month of October.
Shields, a senior from Grand Junction, Colo. (Grand Junction HS), earned an automatic bid into the ITA National Indoor Championships by winning the Mountain Region Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. on Oct. 19. Shields, playing as the No.1 seed, went 6-0 in singles play and 3-1 in doubles, reaching the semifinals with teammate Kean Feeder as the No. 2 seeded duo.
Petukhova, a junior from Moscow, Russia (A.M. Gorky), won the ITA Northwest Regional Doubles title and the ITA National Indoor doubles title with doubles partner Renata Kucerkova. She finished the fall season with an 12-1 doubles record. The junior also defeated No. 15 Megan Falcon of LSU in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championships in singles play.
Other male nominees included: Fresno State’s Rudolf Siwy won two matches in the ITA All-American main draw to reach the round of 16, including a victory over No. 3 Daniel Vallverdu of Miami. New Mexico State’s Jim Brouleau went 1-1 in singles at the 2008 D’Novo All-American Championships and then reached the Round of 16 at the ITA Mountain Region Championships.
Other female nominees included: New Mexico State’s Natalia Salum Soto qualified into the main draw at the ITA Central Region Championship with two straight-set victories and then reached the round of 32 after beating Wichita State’s Anna Egorova, 6-4, 6-2. Boise State’s Pichittra Thongdach reached the quarterfinals in the singles tournament before losing to No. 16 seeded Anouk Tigu in three sets. Nevada’s Caroline Bailly reached the round of 16 at the ITA Regional Championships.