DENVER ? Fresno State’s Jacqueline Haskett and Nevada’s Laurent Garcin have been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for the week of Mar. 17-23. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Haskett and the third career honor for Garcin, earning the award once already this season and once as a freshman.
Haskett, a senior from Adelaide, Australia, (Westminster) was a perfect 2-0 in singles action, helping the No. 16 Bulldogs earn two team victories over No. 21 Denver (4-3) and No. 27 BYU (6-1) in Fresno, Calif. Haskett delivered a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Denver’s Kyla Iwinski, 6-2, 7-6 (9), before winning 11-9 in the decisive frame. After dropping the doubles point to the Pioneers, Fresno State needed four wins in singles play, with Haskett’s victory clinching the win for the Bulldogs. She also topped BYU’s Elle Carney in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-2 at the No. 5 position, helping Fresno State to its second-straight victory over ranked opponents.
Garcin, a sophomore from Chateauroux les alpes, France (Aristide Briand) was undefeated in both singles and doubles play at the Boise State Spring Break Invitational in Boise, Idaho. In singles action, Garcin topped BYU’s Jonathan Sanchez (6-2, 6-0), defeated Jose Perdomo of Ball State (6-3, 6-2) and downed Georgia State’s Nejc Podkrajsek (4-6, 7-6, 10-6), all at the No. 1 position. In doubles play, Garcin paired with teammate Augustin Myard, notching two victories at the No. 2 position, beating Eduardo Pavia and Joe Vallee of Ball State (8-2) and Georgia State’s William Adeimy and Trenton Spinks (8-2).
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Pichittra Thongdach of Boise State led the Broncos to a win over No. 70 Cal State Northridge (5-2), pulling out a victory over Victoria Brymer (7-5, 6-2) in No. 1 singles, also pairing with teammate Polina Kokoulina to take down Brymer and Canna Furuta (8-5) in doubles action ... Sophie Kobuch of Hawai’i knocked off two ranked opponents, defeating No. 116 Ola Abou-Zekry of No. 59 New Mexico (6-1, 6-1) and knocked off No. 59 Maria Mizyuk of Nevada (7-5, 6-3), both at the No. 1 position ... Caroline Bailly of Nevada went undefeated in both singles and doubles action, leading the Wolf Pack to three team victories over No. 57 New Mexico (6-1), San Diego (4-2) and Hawai’i (5-2) ... Stephanie Eusebe of New Mexico State was perfect in both singles and doubles action, breezing past Texas-San Antonio’s Monika Drabkova (6-3, 6-1) and Texas-Pan American’s Megan Bedeau (7-5, 7-5), both at the No. 3 singles position ... Amber Silverstone of San Jose State extended her singles winning streak to six, topping Wyoming’s Rebecca Berger (7-5, 6-4) and Ashlee Thorneycroft of Cal State Bakersfield (6-1, 6-1).
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Luke Shields of Boise State guided the Broncos to a 4-0 victory over No. 65 Wichita State, downing No. 103-ranked Tiago Espirito Santo (6-2, 6-1), while joining brother Clancy Shields in doubles play to take down Espirito Santo and Adrian Chermaci (8-1) ... Mirko Zapletal of Fresno State won in straight sets over Emanu Brighiu of No. 28 TCU (6-4, 6-3), improving to 14-7 in singles play.
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