DENVER ? This week, five WAC schools are in action with Fresno State competing in the Pacific Coast Doubles in San Diego, Calif. Boise State welcomes the No. 67 Minnesota Golden Gophers on Mar. 1 and also host No. 38 William & Mary on Mar. 3. Fresno State will take on No. 50 San Diego State on Feb. 28, before competing in the Pacific Coast Doubles in San Diego, Calif., Feb. 28-Mar. 2. The Idaho Vandals take on Gonzaga on Feb. 29 in Spokane, Wash., before traveling to Cheney, Wash., to take on Eastern Washington on Mar. 4. The Aggies of New Mexico State welcome Sacramento State, Utah and Texas-Arlington to Las Cruces, Feb. 29 - Mar. 2. Utah State travels to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on Weber State on Feb. 29 and UNLV on Mar. 1.
Hawai?i and Nevada will take a week off before returning to action, with the Rainbow Wahine welcoming Southern Illinois to Honolulu on Mar. 11, while the Wolf Pack will take on Oregon and Portland on Mar. 8-9.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? New Mexico State’s Roman Stoisavljevic has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 18-24. This is the third career honor for Stoisavljevic, earning the honor once as both a sophomore and freshman.
Stoisavljevic, a junior from Zagreb, Croatia, was perfect in both singles and doubles in matches against No. 57 New Mexico and No. 41 Texas Tech, Feb. 22-24. Stoisavljevic and his teammate Eduardo Salas convincingly defeated Texas Tech’s No. 2 nationally ranked doubles pair of Christian Rojmar and Bojan Szumanske, 8-2. In singles play, Stoisavljevic won his first match in three sets at the No. 3 position over Graeme Kassautzki of No. 57 New Mexico, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, before winning in straight sets at the No. 3 position over No. 41 Texas Tech’s Sinisa Markovic, 6-4, 6-4.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Steve Robertson of Boise State went 2-0 in singles against No. 37 Stanford and No. 71 Fresno State, defeating Stanford’s Phil Kao, 6-1, 6-1 and Siddharth Alapati of Fresno State, 6-0, 6-1 ... Tejesvi Veerepalli of Fresno State clinched wins for the Bulldogs over No. 28 Boise State and No. 69 Nebraska, earning a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Boise State’s Brent Werbeck and topping Nebraska’s Hendrik Stahmer, 6-2, 7-6 (2), improving to 16-7 overall and 6-3 in dual matches this season.
Boise State Broncos
No. 41 Boise State returns home from the Golden State, after falling in two close matches to No. 37 Stanford and No. 71 Fresno State ... the Broncos fell to the Cardinal, 4-3, on Feb. 23, before losing a tight match to the Bulldogs, 4-2, on Feb. 24 ... the Broncos were led by junior Steve Robertson, who earned victories in both his singles matches against Stanford and Fresno State ... Robertson defeated Phil Kao of Stanford, 6-1, 6-1, before topping Fresno State’s Siddharth Alapati, 6-0, 6-1, both at the No. 5 singles position ... the No. 55-nationally ranked doubles pair of Luke and Clancy Shields defeated Blake Muller and Alex Clayton of Stanford, 8,6, at the No. 1 doubles position ... this week, Boise State welcomes No. 67 Minnesota on Mar. 1, before hosting No. 38 William & Mary on Mar. 3, in Boise.
Fresno State Bulldogs
No. 53 Fresno State won its sixth-straight match, shutting out No. 69 Nebraska, 6-0, on Feb. 23, before upsetting WAC foe No. 28 Boise State, 4-2, on Feb. 24 ... the Bulldogs were led by sophomore Mirko Zapletal and Tejesvi Veerepalli and freshmen Denny Fafek and Martin Nilsson, who each earned singles victories over both Nebraska and Boise State ... against the Broncos, Zapletal defeated No. 60-ranked Clancy Shields, 6-4, 6-1, while Veerepalli topped Brent Werbeck, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 ... Fafek beat Piotr Dilaj, 7-6, (5), 7-5, and Nilsson defeated Eric Roberson, 6-2, 7-6 (6) ... this weekend, the Bulldogs are back in action against No. 50 San Diego State on Feb. 28, before competing at the Pacific Coast Doubles in San Diego, Calif., Feb. 28-Mar. 2.
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 two weeks off to prepare for their next match, when they host Southern Illinois on Mar. 11 in Honolulu.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho comes off a four-match weekend, earning two wins and two losses ... the Vandals defeated Idaho State, 4-3, on Feb. 22, before falling to No. 59 Denver, 4-0 ... Idaho then topped Air Force, 4-3, on Feb. 23, before being swept by Wichita State, 5-0, on Feb. 24 ... the Vandals were led by sophomore Paulo Mirando, who earned two victories at the No. 6 singles position ... Mirando defeated David Kutchins of Idaho State, 6-0, 6-0, and topped Air Force’s Greg Ferry, 6-4, 6-1 ... against the Falcons, junior Timothy Huynh and senior Rob Chalkey also earned wins at the No. 2 and 3 singles positions, respectively with Huynh topping Austin Francis 6-3, 6-3, and Chalkey defeating James Tomlin, 6-3, 6-1 ... this week, the Vandals take on Gonzaga on Feb. 29 in Spokane, Wash., before traveling to Cheney, Wash., to take on Eastern Washington on Mar. 4.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada returns from Utah after falling to the Utah Utes, 7-0, on Feb. 22, before bouncing back to defeat conference foe Utah State, 5-2, on Feb. 23 ... the Wolf Pack picked up the doubles point against the Aggies with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 positions ... in singles play, Laurent Garcin earned a victory at the No. 1 position over Utah State’s Jakob Asplund, 7-5, 6-2, while Kristian Kuharszky won at the No. 4 spot against Jonas Tyden in three sets ... freshman Cameron Spearman won his first match of the season, getting the victory at the No. 6 position in straight sets over Matt Braithwaite, 6-2, 6-3 ... the Wolf Pack return to the courts in two weeks when they head to Eugene, Ore., to take on Oregon on Mar. 8, before taking on Portland on Mar. 9.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State looks to bounce back after two losses at the hands of No. 57 New Mexico, 5-2, and No. 41 Texas Tech, 6-1 ... against the Lobos, Roman Stoisavljevic and Alejandro de Mucha both picked up singles victories for the Aggies ... Stoisavljevic defeated Graeme Kassautzki, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while de Mucha topped Joe Wood, 6-4, 6-4 ... against the Red Raiders, the doubles tandem of Stoisavljevic and Eduardo Salas defeated the nation’s No. 2-ranked doubles team of Christian Rojmar and Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech, 8-2 ... Salas and Stoisavljevic handed Rojmar and Szumanksi their first loss of the season ... Stoisavljevic also earned the Aggies’ only team point of the match, winning at the No. 2 singles position over Sinisa Markovic, 6-4, 6-4 ... the Aggies are back in action this weekend when they host Sacramento State, Utah and Texas-Arlington, Feb. 29-Mar. 2.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State fell to WAC foe Nevada, 5-2, on Feb. 23, but bounced back to beat Idaho State in Pocatello, 4-3, on Feb. 26 ... sophomore Oscar Ericsson defeated Nevada’s Benjamin David, 6-2, 6-0, while senior Fernando Gallegos beat Augustin Myard of Nevada, 6-2, 6-3 ... in doubles action against Idaho State, the Aggies took the point winning at all three doubles spots ... junior Matt Braithwaite and sophomore Matt Searle shut out Idaho State’s Jeremy Atkin and David Kutchins, 8-0 at No. 3 position ... in singles play, sophomore Oscar Ericsson defeated the Bengals’ Javier Royo, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 2 position, while senior Jonas Tyden defeated Alex Buceta at No. 4 singles, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 ... up next, Utah State will make the trip to Las Vegas, Nev., where it will take on Weber State on Feb. 29 and UNLV on Mar. 1.
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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