DENVER ? Boise State’s Pichittra Thongdach and Clancy Shields have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for the week of Mar. 10-16. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Thongdach and the fourth career honor for Shields, earning the award once as a sophomore and twice as a freshman.
Thongdach, a sophomore from Petchaburi, Thailand, (Thailand), was a perfect 3-0 in both singles and doubles action, helping the No. 43 Broncos earn three team victories over No. 69 Wichita State (5-2), Arkansas-Little Rock (5-2) and North Florida (4-1) at the Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan. Thongdach won each of her singles matches in straight sets, notching a victory over Stephanie Dalmacio of Wichita State, 6-2, 6-0, topping Arkansas-Little Rock’s Laetitia Bourgeon, 6-0, 6-0, and beating Natalia Sanchez of North Florida, 7-6, 6-0. She also paired with teammate Polina Kokoulina as the No. 58-ranked doubles tandem, tallying three wins at the No. 1 doubles position over the Shockers, the Trojans and the Ospreys.
Shields, a junior from Grand Junction, Colo., (Grand Junction) shined for the Broncos at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., helping Boise State to team victories over No. 46 Oklahoma (4-1) and No. 30 Notre Dame (4-3). In singles action, Shields tallied a perfect 2-0 effort at the No. 2 position, first topping Oklahoma’s Ionut Beleleu, 6-2, 6-1, before knocking off No. 81 Sheeva Parbhu of Notre Dame, 6-0, 6-4. In doubles play, Shields paired with his teammate and brother Luke Shields as the No. 41-ranked doubles tandem, notching two victories at the No. 1 position, upsetting No. 28 Federico Chavarria and Andrei Daescu of Oklahoma (8-6) before taking down Notre Dame’s Brett Helgeson and Parbhu (8-3).
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Amber Silverstone of San Jose State led the Spartans to two team victories, going a perfect 2-0 in both singles and doubles, beating Casey O’Connor of Sonoma State (6-3, 6-1) and defeated Southern Utah’s Kirrily Burden (6-2, 6-3) in singles action.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Rudolf Siwy of Fresno State notched two singles victories and one doubles win at the Blue Gray Classic, beating Martin Schullhauser of No. 19 Virginia Commonwealth, 7-6, 6-3, before topping Brown’s Saurabh Kohli, 6-4, 6-2, both at the No. 1 position ... Andreas Weber of Hawai’i was a perfect 2-0 in both singles and doubles play, knocking off Southern Illinois’ Mariano Restrepo (6-4, 6-0) and Colin Mascall of No. 33 Arkansas (6-0, 6-3), both at the No. 2 position.
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