DENVER ? This week, five of nine WAC schools are in action, with three schools set to take on nationally ranked teams. The No. 49 Boise State Broncos travel to Provo, Utah, to take on No. 58 BYU on Feb. 14 and No. 72 Texas Tech on Feb. 15, while the No. 12 Fresno State Bulldogs make the trip to Los Angeles, Calif., to compete with No. 8 UCLA on Feb. 15 and No. 37 UC Irvine on Feb. 16. Louisiana Tech travels to Lafayette, La., to compete with Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 16 and heads to Lake Charles, La., to square off with McNeese State on Feb. 17. The Wolf Pack head to Pullman, Wash., to take on No. 66 Utah on Feb. 16 and No. 46 Washington State on Feb. 17, while the Aggies of New Mexico State welcome Colorado State to Las Cruces on Feb. 16. Hawai?i, Idaho, San Jose State and Utah State have a week off before returning to the courts Feb. 21-22.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State’s Tinesta Rowe has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 4-10. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Rowe.
Rowe, a junior from Ocho Rios, Jamaica, (American Heritage), was perfect in both singles and doubles at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis., Feb. 7-9. The No. 1 nationally-ranked pair of Rowe and teammate Melanie Gloria won all three of their doubles matches, defeating No. 7 Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray of Northwestern, 9-8 (5), to earn the only team point for the Bulldogs against Northwestern. Rowe and Gloria also topped Clemson’s Ani Mijacika and Carol Salge, 8-4, and No. 45 Nanar Airapetian and Mayori Franco of Arkansas, 8-5. In singles, Rowe went 2-0 beating Ina Hadzisleimovic of Clemson, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, and Arkansas’ Mayori Franco, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (5), to clinch the victory over the Razorbacks.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Bianca Jochimsen of Boise State went 2-1 in singles play, earning a 6-1, 6-3 win over Sarah Leuenberger of Eastern Washington and a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Utah’s Erin Monson, and also teamed up with Klaudia Wlodarczyk in doubles to go 3-0 with wins of 8-1, 8-3 and 8-0 over Oregon, Eastern Washington and Utah, respectively ... Florence De Vrye of Nevada went undefeated in doubles play and 1-1 in singles, teaming up with Alice Hall for victories over Idalina Franca and Narine Kazarova of North Texas, 8-3, and Texas Tech’s Maria Jose Andres and Ingrid Ballus, 8-0 ... Sophia Marks of New Mexico State posted a flawless weekend in both singles and doubles to help the Aggies win all three matches, defeating Northern Arizona’s Edit Suhadja (7-6, 6-1) and Idaho’s Silvia Irimescu (6-1, 6-1) in singles action ... Hailey Swenson of Utah State recorded two singles victories at the No. 2 position, defeating Idaho State’s Stephanie Roldan, 6-0, 6-3, and Barbara Machiocha of Idaho, 6-2, 6-7, 10-6.
Boise State Broncos
Boise State redeemed its season-opening loss to No. 58 Oregon, sweeping Eastern Washington, 7-0, before defeating No. 67 Utah, 4-3, in Boise ... the Broncos were led by Bianca Jochimsen and Klaudia Wlodarczyk, who went undefeated in both singles and doubles action ... the No. 81-ranked Jochimsen defeated Sarah Leuenberger of Eastern Washington, 6-1, 6-3, before beating Utah’s Erin Monson, 6-2, 6-2 ... Jochimsen teamed up with Wlodarczyk to top Sarah Leuenberger and Marie Demerath of Eastern Washington, 8-3, and Utah’s Erin Monson and Andrea Maughan, 8-0 ... the Broncos return to the courts on the road with duals against No.58 BYU and No. 72 Texas Tech, Feb. 14-15, in Provo, Utah.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State opened its 2008 season at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis., Feb. 7-9 ... the Bulldogs fell in their first-round match against No. 3 Northwestern, 4-1, but bounced back to win their next two matches in the consolation bracket, defeating No. 16 Clemson, 5-1, and No. 39 Arkansas, 4-3 ... Fresno State was led by Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe, who defended their No. 1 national ranking, going undefeated in doubles action ... Rowe also swept each of her singles matches, beating Northwestern’s No. 68-ranked Lauren Lui (5-7, 1-2 DNF), Ina Hadzisleimovic of Clemson, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, and Arkansas’ Mayori Franco, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (5) ... up next, the Bulldogs will travel to California to take on No. 8 UCLA and No. 37 UC Irvine, Feb. 15-16.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai?i is still in search of its first dual match victory of the season, after falling to No. 26 BYU, No. 13 Baylor and No. 72 Washington ... Rainbow Wahine sophomore Sophie Kobuch has opened the spring season with several key wins, defeating No. 59 Anastasia Surkova of BYU, 6-4, 6-4, No. 13 Baylor’s Taylor Ormond, 2-6, 5-5 (15-0), (ret.) and No. 16 Katie Tybakova of No. 19 Florida State, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 at the Hawai?i Invitational ... Kobuch won her fourth-straight singles match, defeating Alabama’s top Tiffany Welcher, 6-3, 6-2, also at the Hawai?i Invitational ... the Rainbow Wahine will have two weeks off before returning to the courts, Feb. 21-22, when they take on San Diego and No. 50 San Diego State.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns from Las Cruces, N.M., after going 2-2 and earning one WAC victory ... the Vandals were swept 7-0 by both UTEP and New Mexico State, but tallied wins over Utah State (5-2) and Western New Mexico (7-0) ... the doubles tandem of Yvette Ly and Barbara Maciocha recorded three doubles victories, falling only to UTEP’s Marian Deluca and Ximena Fuentes ... in singles action, Idaho’s Silvia Irimescu, Alexandra Ulesanu and Natalie Kirch each earned two wins against opponents from Western New Mexico and WAC foe Utah State ... the Vandals will have two weeks off before returning to action against Northern Arizona and Wyoming, Nov. 23-24, in Boise, Idaho.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
Louisiana Tech returns from Hammond, La., after falling 6-1 by Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 9 ... the Lady Techsters were led by freshman Mallory Smith, who won her singles match in a third-set tiebreaker after not winning a single game in the opening set of the match ... Smith defeated Southeastern Louisiana’s Maja Bradonjic, 0-6, 7-5, 10-6 to earn Louisiana Tech’s only point of the match ... the doubles tandem of Alexandra Gaspar and Ashley Wedderburn also won their match, topping Nina Knavs and Jana Simurkova ... this weekend, Louisiana Tech is on the road to take on Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State, Feb. 16-17.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada fell to Texas Tech, 4-3, on Feb. 9, but bounced back to pick up its first victory of the season with a 4-3 win over North Texas on Feb. 10 ... No. 48-ranked sophomore Maria Mizyuk won a three-set match over Texas Tech’s Samantha van der Drift, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 ... in singles play against North Texas, Caroline Bailly, Florence De Vrye and Alice Hall each won in straight sets to seal the Wolf Pack victory ... De Vrye and Hall also teamed up to win both doubles matches against the Mean Green and the Red Raiders ... the Wolf Pack return to action this weekend when they head to Pullman, Wash., to take on No. 66 Utah and No. 46 Washington State, Feb. 16-17.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State earned three-straight victories, capping off its perfect weekend with a 7-0 sweep of WAC foe Idaho ... the Aggies also beat Northern Arizona, 4-3, and topped Utah State, 7-0 ... New Mexico State ended Northern Arizona’s six-match winning streak ... the Aggies were led by sophomore Sophia Marks, junior Stephanie Eusebe and senior Anne Fagegaltier, who each went a perfect 3-0 in singles action ... Marks and Fagegaltier also teamed up with Aleksa Costa and Paulina Zuniga, respectively, to tally three doubles victories ... senior Zeljka Juricek picked up her first victory of the season at No. 1 singles with a win over Utah State’s Breanna Harris, 6-7, 7-5, 10-6 ... up next, New Mexico State will host Colorado State on Feb. 16 in Las Cruces.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State notched a season-opening victory over Sonoma State, sweeping the Seawolves, 7-0 on Feb. 8 ... the Spartans then dropped a tough 7-0 match to UC Davis on Feb. 12 ... San Jose State was led by junior Silvana Dukic, who dominated her singles match against Sonoma State’s Casey O’Connor, 6-0, 6-0 ... Sanda Hadzisabic was able to come back after falling in the first set, defeating Mary Bulich, 3-6, 6-1, 10-7 ... against the Aggies of UC Davis, Dukic lost a close match at the No. 2 singles position, falling to Robin Guier, 7-5, 6-3 ... up next, the Spartans will travel to Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 19 to take on UC Santa Cruz.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State looks to bounce back after a tough weekend in Las Cruces, N.M., falling in four-straight matches ... the Aggies lost to Northern Arizona (7-0), WAC foes Idaho (5-2) and New Mexico State (7-0), and UTEP (7-0) ... Utah State earned two singles victories against Idaho ... freshman Hailey Swenson defeated Barbara Maciocha of Idaho at the No. 2 position, 6-2, 6-7, 10-6 ... freshman Taylor Perry also earned a win at No. 5 singles, beating Idaho’s Jana Siwa, 0-6, 6-4, 10-8 ... up next, the Aggies will welcome Weber State to Logan, Thursday, Feb. 21 in their season home-opener.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP 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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