DENVER ? Fresno State’s Melanie Gloria and Danny Fafek have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for the week of Feb. 11-17. This is the fourth career Player of the Week honor for Gloria, earning the award twice as a freshman and once as a sophomore, and the first career honor for Fafek.
Gloria, a junior from Montreal, Canada, (Georges-Vanier), was perfect in both singles and doubles against No. 8 UCLA and No. 37 UC Irvine, Feb. 15-16. The No. 1 nationally-ranked pair of Gloria and teammate Tinesta Rowe won both of their doubles matches, convincingly defeating Anna-Viktoria Linda and Riza Zalameda of No. 8 UCLA, 8-3, and topping UC Irvine’s Becky Bernhard and Clare Fermin, 8-4. In singles, Gloria avenged losses the past two seasons to UCLA’s Riza Zalameda, beating the No. 25-ranked Bruin in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Gloria also breezed past Becky Bernhard of UC Irvine, 6-3, 6-0, to help the Bulldogs to a 6-1 victory.
Fafek, a freshman from Mountain View, Calif., (Los Altos), shined for the Bulldogs in Fresno State’s doubleheader sweep of Nevada and Santa Clara on Feb. 17. Fafek and doubles partner Taylor Leiby stormed past Nevada’s Alex Daruty and Cameron Spearman 8-2 at the No. 2 spot. In singles, Fafek topped Gabe Kanzelmeyer of Nevada in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, while helping Fresno State to the 7-0 victory. Fafek, along with Tejesvi Veerepalli, were flawless in an 8-0 defeat of Santa Clara's Charlie Burke and John Iwanski during the second match of the day. Fafek, who moved up to the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup against Santa Clara, concluded with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Senthil Chidambaram as the Bulldogs defeated the Broncos 7-0.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Bianca Jochimsen of Boise State was undefeated in both singles and doubles, defeating No. 58-ranked BYU’s Elizaveta Ezhova, 6-1, 6-2 and Kelsy Garland of No. 72 Texas Tech, 6-4, 6-3 ... Sophia Marks of New Mexico State led the Aggies to their fourth-straight victory, defeating Colorado State’s Lauren Strasburger, 6-1, 6-1, and pairing with teammate Aleksa Costa to overcome a 2-0 deficit, beating Lauren Strasburger and Hilary Tyler in doubles action, 8-6.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Luke Shields of Boise State went 2-0 in No. 1 singles and 2-1 in No. 1 doubles at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, defeating Saketh Myneni of No. 10 Alabama, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, leading the Broncos to a come-from-behind victory over the Crimson Tide ... Jakob Asplund of Utah State earned two singles and one doubles victory, defeating Henning Hipp of Weber State, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, and Portland State’s Kyle Erickson, 6-2, 6-1. Asplund also teamed with doubles partner Jonas Tyden to defeat Erickson and Alex Hart of Portland State, 8-4, to lead the Aggies to a 5-2 victory over the Vikings.
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