DENVER ? This week, six WAC schools are in action with several league matches on tap. No. 28 Boise State makes the trip to California to take on No. 37 Stanford and WAC foe No. 71 Fresno State, while Idaho travels to Colorado Springs to compete with Idaho State, Denver, Air Force and Wichita State, Feb. 22-24. The Bulldogs of Fresno State welcome No. 69 Nebraska on Feb. 22 and New Mexico State will host instate rival No. 57 New Mexico on Feb. 22 and welcome No. 41 Texas Tech on Feb. 24. Nevada travels to Salt Lake City on Feb. 22 to take on Utah, before heading to Logan to meet conference rival Utah State, Feb. 23. The Aggies of Utah State will then travel to Pocatello to take on Idaho State on Feb. 26.
The Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors will take three weeks off before returning to action Mar. 11, when they welcome Southern Illinois to Honolulu.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State’s Denny Fafek has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 11-17. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Fafek.
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 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.
Boise State Broncos
Boise State returns from Seattle, Wash., after competing in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships ... the Broncos fell in the first round to No. 3 Ohio State, 4-0, before losing to No. 11 Illinois, 4-3, in the consolation round ... Boise State was able to rebound to knock off No. 10 Alabama, 4-2, snapping a six-match losing streak for the Broncos ... senior standout Luke Shields won the decisive match at No. 1 singles over Alabama’s Sakets Myneni, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, to give Boise State the victory ... Piotr Dilaj and Paul Koenke also earned two singles victories in their matchups with both Illinois and Alabama at the No. 4 and No. 6 spots, respectively ... this week, Boise State travels to California , opening up at national power No. 37 Stanford on Feb. 22, followed by a match at WAC rival No. 71 Fresno State on Feb. 24.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State won its fifth-straight match, shutting out both Nevada and Santa Clara, 7-0 , on Feb. 17 ... freshman Denny Fafek went undefeated in both singles and doubles, with straight-set victories over Gabe Kanzelmeyer of Nevada at the No. 4 spot and Santa Clara’s Senthil Chidambaram at the No. 3 position ... in doubles, Fafek and teammate Tejesvi Veerepalli breezed past Charlie Burke and John Iwanski of Santa Clara, 8-0 ... junior Rudolf Siwy won his third and fourth-straight singles matches of the dual season, topping Benjamin David of Nevada, 6-1, 6-4, and Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong of Santa Clara, 6-0, 6-3 ... this weekend, the Bulldogs are back in action to host No.69 Nebraska on Feb. 22 and welcome the much-anticipated match between WAC foe No. 28 Boise State on Feb. 24.
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 three weeks 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 this 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 Fresno, Calif., after falling to conference foe No. 75 Fresno State, 7-0, on Feb. 17 ... Kristian Kuharszky and Guerin Smith gave Siddarth Alapati and Tejesvi Veerepalli of Fresno State a run for their money in doubles, falling at the No. 3 position, 9-7 ... in sngles action, Gabe Kanzelmeyer also fought a tough match at No. 4 singles against Fresno State freshman Denny Fafek, falling 6-4, 6-4 ... the Wolf Pack return to the courts this weekend when they head to Salt Lake City to take on Utah on Feb. 22, before traveling to Logan to square off with conference rival Utah State on Feb. 23.
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 returns to the courts this weekend to take on instate rival No. 57 New Mexico on Feb. 22 and No. 41 Texas Tech on Feb. 24, in Las Cruces.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State welcomed Weber State and Portland State to Logan, falling to Weber State, 5-2, Feb. 13, before bouncing back to defeat Portland State, 5-2, on Feb. 15 ... the Aggies were led by freshman Jakob Asplund, who went 2-0 in singles and notched one doubles victory on the weekend ... Asplund defeated Henning Hipp of Weber State, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, before beating Portland State’s Kyle Erickson, 6-2, 6-1 ... Asplund also teamed up with senior Jonas Tyden in doubles, topping Kyle Erickson and Alex Hart of Portland State, 8-4 ...Tyden was also a winner in singles against Weber State’s Nick Plum, coming out on top, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 ... up next, Utah State will continue action on Saturday, Feb. 23, when the Nevada Wolf Pack visit Logan.
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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