DENVER ? This week, four WAC schools are in action with No. 35 Boise State competing in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Wash., Feb. 15-18. On Feb. 13, Utah State will host Weber State and also welcome Portland State to Logan on Feb. 15. The No. 75 Fresno State Bulldogs host Santa Clara on Feb. 16, and welcome WAC foe Nevada to Fresno on Feb. 17.
Idaho will return to the courts when they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., to take on Idaho State, Denver, Air Force and Wichita State, Feb. 22-24. The Aggies of New Mexico State will enjoy almost a two-week break, before welcoming New Mexico and Texas Tech to Las Cruces, Feb. 22 and 24, respectively. The Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors will take an entire month off before returning to action Mar. 11, when they welcome Southern Illinois to Honolulu.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State’s Rudolf Siwy has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 4-10. This is the second career Player of the Week honor for Siwy, earning the honor once as a sophomore.
Siwy, a junior from Trinic, Czech Republic, (Gymnazium Trinic), shined for the Bulldogs in Fresno State’s dominating wins over Oregon and WAC foe Hawai’i. Siwy won in both singles and doubles, leading the Bulldogs to a 6-1 victory over Hawai’i and Oregon, 7-0. At the No. 1 singles position, No. 92 Siwy beat the Rainbow Warriors’ Dennis Lajola, 6-3, 6-2, and Oregon’s Marcos Verdasco, 6-0, 7-6 (4). Siwy and teammate Taylor Leiby defeated Spence Mendoza and Dennis Lajola of Hawai’i, 8-4, and Oregon’s Geoff Embry and Stephen Wiechert, 8-5.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Andreas Weber of Hawai’i earned three singles and two doubles victories, defeating Thong Tu of San Francisco, 6-2, 7-5, Tejesvi Veerepalli of No. 74 Fresno State and Oregon’s Francisco Gallardo, 6-2, 6-1, and teamed up with junior Sascha Heinemann to defeat San Francisco’s Thong Tu and Einar Hart, 8-3, and Marco Verdasco and Francisco Gallardo of Oregon, 8-1 ... Stanislav Glukov of Idaho went 4-1 in singles action, including a victory over TCU’s No. 54-ranked Adrian Simon (1-6, 6-3, 7-5), Roman Stolsavljevic of New Mexico State (6-4, 7-6) and Northern Arizona’s Jeffrey Morys (6-2, 6-3) ... Gustave Diep of New Mexico State won all three of his singles matches at the No. 1 position, helping the Aggies to three victories over Idaho, Northern Arizona and Utah State, and also finished 2-1 in doubles play with teammate Jim Brouleau ... Oscar Ericsson of Utah State posted an undefeated 3-0 record at the No. 2 singles position, defeating Northern Arizona’s Bradley Bristow, (7-5, 6-2), Timothy Huynh of Idaho (6-2, 6-4) and New Mexico State’s Jim Brouleau, 6-3, 3-6, 4-0 (ret.).
Boise State Broncos
Boise State looks to bounce back after three-straight losses to UC Irvine (4-3), No. 8 UCLA (7-0) and No. 6 USC (5-2) ... the Broncos were led by No. 69 Brent Werbeck, who earned a singles win over USC’s No. 43 Gary Sacks, 6-3, 7-6, and teamed with Steve Robertson for a doubles victory over Trevor Dobson and Stephan Stege of UC Irvine, 8-5 ... Robertson also earned a singles victory against UC Irvine’s Trevor Dobson, 6-3, 7-5 ... this week, Boise State heads to Seattle, Wash., to compete in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships as the No. 14 seed in the tournament ... the Broncos are slated to play the No. 3 seed Ohio State in the opening round on Friday, Feb. 15, and will face either No. 6 seeded USC or No. 11 seeded Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 16.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State won its second-straight match on Feb. 10, shutting out the Oregon Ducks, 7-0 in Fresno ... the Bulldogs also earned their first WAC victory over visiting Hawai?i, 6-1, on Feb. 8 ... Fresno State picked up five straight-set wins in singles against both the Rainbow Warriors and the Ducks ... sophomore Mirko Zapletal clinched the match over Hawai?i with a win over Sascha Heinemann at the No. 2 position, 6-2, 6-3 ... freshman Siddharth Alapati breezed to his fourth-straight singles victory, beating Stephen Wiechert of Oregon, 6-1, 6-0, improving to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in dual matches ... Fresno State is 3-0 at home this season, and have five more matches in a row to complete a seven-match homestand ... this weekend, the Bulldogs are back in action to host Santa Clara on Feb. 16 and WAC foe Nevada on Feb. 17.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
Hawai?i concluded its four-match road trip with a loss to Pac-10 foe Oregon, 4-3 on Feb. 9 ... the Rainbow Warriors also fell to WAC foe No. 74 Fresno State, 6-1, on Feb. 8, and to No. 40 Stanford, 7-0 on Feb. 6 ... Hawai?i was led by No. 25-ranked sophomore Andreas Weber, who earned the lone singles victory over Fresno State’s Tejesvi Veerepalli, 6-2, 6-2 ... Weber also was a winner against Francisco Gallardo of Oregon, 6-2, 6-1, and paired up with teammate Sascha Heinemann to beat Oregon’s Marco Verdasco and Francisco Gallardo in doubles action, 8-1 ... freshman Dennis Lajola and Sascha Heinemann also secured singles victories against the Ducks ... the Rainbow Warriors will enjoy nearly a month off to prepare for their next match, when they host Southern Illinois on Mar. 11 in Honolulu.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns home from Las Cruces, N.M., after winning three matches in a row ... the Vandals earned wins against Northern Arizona (5-2), Western New Mexico (7-0) and WAC foe Utah State (4-3), while falling to New Mexico State (4-3) in the first match last weekend ... Idaho was led by freshmen Hugh McDonald and Andrew Dobbs ... as McDonald was a perfect 4-0 in both singles and doubles, while Dobbs was a perfect 4-0 in doubles and 3-1 in singles action ... sophomore Stanislav Glukov also went 3-1 in singles for the Vandals, capping it off with a victory at the No. 1 position on Feb. 10 with a straight-set win over Northern Arizona’s Jeffrey Morys, 6-3, 6-3 ... Idaho returns to action next weekend, heading to Colorado Springs, Colo., for four matches in three days against Idaho State, Denver, Air Force and Wichita State.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada returns home from Cheney, Wash., finishing 1-2 on the weekend ... the Wolf Pack picked up their fist victory of the spring season with a 5-2 win over Gonzaga, before falling to Eastern Washington, 5-2, and dropping their first WAC match of the season to the Vandals, 4-3 ... Nevada was led by sophomore Laurent Garcin, who won all three matches at the No. 1 singles position, to remain undefeated in dual play this year ... the Wolf Pack return to the courts this weekend when they take on conference foe No. 75 Fresno State, Feb. 17, in Fresno, Calif.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State won its third match in a row, beating WAC foes Idaho (4-3) and Utah State (6-1) and sweeping Northern Arizona (7-0) in Las Cruces ... the Aggies combined to go 15-3 in singles play and 6-3 in doubles action in their three victories ... New Mexico State was led by sophomores Gustave Diep and Eduardo Salas, who both went undefeated in singles action last weekend ... senior Jeff Pfeifer won his first match of the season at No. 6, defeating Matt Braithwaite of Utah State, 6-3, 6-0 ... the Aggies won all six singles matches in straight sets against Northern Arizona ... New Mexico State will enjoy almost a two-week break before returning to the courts to take on instate rival New Mexico on Feb. 22, in Las Cruces.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State looks to bounce back after falling in three-straight matches, to WAC foes Idaho (4-3) and New Mexico State (6-1) and to Northern Arizona (4-3), in Las Cruces, N.M., Feb. 8-10 ... the Aggies were led by sophomore Oscar Ericsson, who was a perfect 3-0 in singles action, defeating his opponents from Idaho and Northern Arizona in straight sets ... freshman Jakob Asplund went 2-1 in singles, defeating Northern Arizona’s Jeffrey Morys (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) and Idaho’s Stanislav Glukhov, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (7) ... Asplund paired up with teammate Jonas Tyden at the No. 1 position to beat both Idaho and Utah State in doubles action ... up next, Utah State will welcome Weber State and Portland State to Logan, Utah, on Feb. 13 and 15, respectively.
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, host Boise State took the title at the Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, defeating second-seeded Fresno State, 4-0.
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