DENVER ? This week, six WAC schools are in action, with several league matches on tap this weekend. On Feb. 6 Hawai?i will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to compete with No. 40 Stanford Cardinal on Feb. 6. The Rainbow Wahine will then make the trip to Fresno to tango with the No. 70 Fresno State Bulldogs on Feb. 8, before meeting with Oregon on Feb. 9. The No. 27 Boise State Broncos will also be in the Sunshine State, taking on UC Irvine on Feb. 7, before matching up with No. 8 UCLA on Feb. 8 and No. 6 USC on Feb. 9.
Both Idaho and Utah State will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., to compete for the weekend. The Vandals, the Aggies of New Mexico State and the Aggies of Utah State will be pitted against each other, Feb. 8-10. Idaho and Utah State will also take on Northern Arizona while in Las Cruces, and the Vandals will match up with Western New Mexico on Feb. 9 in Las Cruces.
The Nevada Wolf Pack will take two weeks off before returning to action Feb. 17, when they take on WAC foes No. 70 Fresno State Bulldogs.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Nevada’s Laurent Garcin has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 28 ? Feb. 3. This is the second career Player of the Week honor for Garcin.
b, a sophomore from Chateauroux Les Alpes, France, (Aristide Briand), finished undefeated in singles play to lead the Wolf Pack, and is now 4-0 in singles this dual season, playing exclusively at the No. 1 position. Garcin topped Gonzaga’s Roman Dojcak, 6-3, 6-1, to help the Wolf Pack edge out the Bulldogs by a score of 5-2. He also battled Pannhara Mam of Eastern Washington, coming out on top, 6-3, 6-2. Garcin won his third match of the weekend over WAC foe Andrey Potapkin of Idaho, 6-3, 6-2.
Other nominees included: A.J. Kerin of Fresno State led the Bulldogs in a tight match with San Diego, winning a three-set thriller over Nils Schive, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (2), and pairing with teammate Mirko Zapletal to win at the No. 2 doubles position, 8-4 ... Eduardo Salas of New Mexico State went undefeated in both singles and doubles action, beating Saint Mary’s Jerry Ellison in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (7), and defeating Bryan Miller of No. 72 UNLV, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9) for the only Aggies victory in singles action against the Rebels. In doubles play, Salas paired up with teammate Roman Stoisavljevic to win both doubles matches over Saint Mary’s and UNLV.
Boise State Broncos
Due to inclement weather conditions, the Boise State Broncos canceled their matches on Feb. 1-2 against No. 67 BYU and No. 68 Utah ... the Broncos were scheduled to face BYU in Provo, Utah, followed by a dual match against Utah in Salt Lake City ... Boise State will continue its season with three matches in California, with the first on Thursday, Feb. 7 at UC Irvine in Irvine, Calif., followed by duals with No. 8 UCLA and No. 6 USC on Saturday, Feb. 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9 in Los Angeles ... this season the Broncos have posted a 3-1 record over ranked teams, picking up a win over No. 70 UNLV, and two wins over No. 54 New Mexico ... the Broncos’ single loss to a ranked team came in a 4-3 loss to No. 25 Texas A&M.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State returns home after falling in a close match at No. 75 San Diego, 4-3, on Feb. 2 ... the Bulldogs trailed 1-0 after doubles and 3-1 midway through singles competition, but rallied to tie the match at 3-3 with the deciding match at the No. 2 singles positon between Fresno State’s Mirko Zapletal and San Diego’s No. 29 Thomas Liversage ... after more than four hours of competition, Zapletal fell in the third set, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-1, to give San Diego the victory ... freshman Siddharth Alapati played flawless at the No. 5 spot, breezing past Jose Manual Munoz of San Diego, 6-0, 6-0, earning his third dual victory of the year ... Fresno State’s match against No. 50 San Diego State on Feb. 3 was canceled due to inclement weather ... this weekend, the Bulldogs are back in action for a lengthy home stand where they host Oregon and WAC foe Hawai?i.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
Hawai?i makes its first road trip of the spring season, competing in four dual matches in northern California ... the Rainbow Warriors will play at San Francisco on Feb. 5, at Pac-10 powerhouse and No. 40 Stanford on Feb. 6, at WAC rival and No. 70 Fresno State on Feb. 8 and a neutral site match in Fresno, Calif., against Oregon on Feb. 9 ... the Rainbow Warriors will look for redemption, as the Stanford Cardinal beat Hawai?i, 6-1, last November and the No. 70 Bulldogs ousted the Rainbow Wahine in the WAC Championship semifinals last year, 4-0 ... Stanford features four players ranked in the ITA singles rankings, including No. 2 Alex Clayton, No. 41 Ted Kelly, No. 75 Richard Wire and No. 96 Matt Bruch, while Fresno State’s Rudolf Siwy is ranked No. 92.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns home from Fort Worth, Texas, after a strong showing at No. 63 TCU, falling 5-2 ... in singles, Idaho’s Stanislav Glukhov and Andrew Dobbs tallied wins against No. 54 Adrian Simon and Jack Seider, respectively ... the Vandals also recorded their first WAC win, beating the Nevada Wolf Pack, 4-3, in Cheney, Wash., on Feb. 2 ... Idaho returns to action this weekend, heading to Las Cruces, N.M., for four matches in three days against Northern Arizona, Western New Mexico and WAC opponents New Mexico State and Utah 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 will have two weeks off before returning to action Feb. 17 when they take on conference foe No. 70 Fresno State.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State returns from Las Vegas, Nev., after dropping a pair of dual matches ... the Aggies fell 4-3 to Saint Mary’s on Feb. 1, before losing to No. 72 UNLV, 5-2 on Feb. 2 ... the scheduled match versus Southern Mississippi on Feb. 3 was canceled due to inclement weather ... the Aggies were led by sophomore Eduardo Salas, who earned victories in both singles and doubles matches, and by junior Roman Stoisavljevic, who teamed with Salas in the two doubles wins and also added a singles victory at the No. 2 position against Marek Dvorak of Saint Mary’s ... the Aggies return to Las Cruces for their home opener against WAC foe Idaho on Feb. 8, also hosting Northern Arizona on Feb. 9 and Utah State on Feb. 10.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State was downed 7-0 at No. 68 Utah on Jan. 26, watching their record fall to 1-3 on the season ... in doubles action, senior Fernando Gallegos and sophomore Oscar Ericsson battled at the No. 2 position, but eventually fell to Utah’s Amit Maharaj and Stephen Jacobs, 8-5 ... the Aggies look to bounce back when they return to the nets Feb. 8-10 in Las Cruces to take on Northern Arizona and WAC rivals Idaho and New Mexico State.
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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