DENVER ? This week, five WAC schools are in action with two schools taking on ranked teams. The No. 39 Broncos welcome No. 73 Brown on Mar. 28 and No. 43 Denver on Mar. 30. No. 52 Fresno State will host Eastern Washington and Saint Mary’s on Mar. 26, before welcoming DePaul and UC Davis on Mar. 29. Hawai?i will take on No. 11 Tulsa on Mar. 29, while Nevada hosts Weber State and Pacific, Mar. 29-30. The New Mexico State Aggies make the trip to San Antonio, Texas, to take on Texas-San Antonio, Lamar and Samford, Mar. 26-28.
Idaho will take this weekend off before returning to action Apr. 5-6, when the Vandals take on Boise State and San Diego, in Boise, Idaho. Utah State will have nearly two weeks off before its next match versus Weber State in Ogden, Utah, on Apr. 9.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Nevada’s Laurent Garcin has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Mar. 17-23. This is the third career honor for Garcin, earning the award once already this season and once as a freshman.
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 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.
Boise State Broncos
No. 35 Boise State tallied a perfect 3-0 record at its BSU Spring Break Invitational, earning wins over Georgia State (4-0), Yale (4-0) and No. 65 Wichita State (4-0) ... the win over the Shockers marked the Broncos’ tenth win at home this season ... in singles action, senior Eric Roberson made quick work of each of his opponents, notching three wins over Matt Teivans of Wichita State (6-2, 6-1), Trenton Spinks of Georgia State (6-2, 6-1) and Yale’s Tom Santoro (6-1, 6-1) ... sophomore Blake Boswell took down Ross Hopper of Georgia State (6-1, 6-4) and Yale’s Josh Lederman (6-4, 6-4), while senior No. 79-ranked Luke Shields easily defeated No. 103-ranked Tiago Espiriot Santo of Wichita State (6-2, 6-1) ... this week, the Broncos welcome Brown on Mar. 28 and Denver on Mar. 30.
Fresno State Bulldogs
No. 52 Fresno State returns home from Montgomery, Ala., after falling in three matches at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic, Mar. 21-23 ... the Bulldogs fought hard but fell in matches to No. 19 VCU (4-1), No. 64 Wisconsin (4-2) and Brown (4-1) ... the Bulldogs were led by junior Rudolf Siwy and, who tallied two singles victories at the Blue Gray Tennis Classic ... Siwy took down VCU’s Martin Schullhauser (7-6, 6-3) and Brown’s Saurabh Kohli (6-4, 6-2), both at the No. 1 position ... freshmen Denny Fafek and Siddharth Alapati also each earned one singles victory on the weekend ... Fafek topped Jeremy Sonkin of Wisconsin (6-3, 6-2) at the No. 4 position, while Alapati took down Wisconsin’s Peter Marrack (6-1, 6-3) ... up next, the Bulldogs welcome Eastern Washington and Saint Mary’s to Fresno on Mar. 26, before hosting DePaul and UC Davis on Mar. 29.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
Hawai?i concluded its two-match homestand with a tough 4-3 loss to SEC powerhouse and No. 33 Arkansas, Mar. 16 ... the Rainbow Warriors dropped to 2-8 on the season, with five losses coming by the score of 4-3 ... the Razorbacks took the doubles point, after winning two of the three matches ... the Hawai?i duo of Sascha Heinemann and Andreas Weber upended the team of Tyler Tarnasky and Colin Mascall at the No. 1 spot, 8-3 ... the Rainbow Warriors won the top three singles matches, with Heinemann, Weber and freshman Dennis Lajola all beating their opponent in straight sets ... Lajola blew by Blake Strode (6-2 6-1) at the No. 1 position, while Weber made quick work of Mascall (6-0, 6-3) ... Heinemann defeated Matthew Hogan (7-5, 6-2) at the No. 3 position ... this week, the Rainbow Warriors return to action at Tulsa, Mar. 29.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns from a pair of split matches, first falling to Montana State (5-2), before bouncing back to take down Montana (6-1) ... against the Bobcats, the Vandals were solid at the top of the lineup, with Andrey Potapkin topping Kyle McDonald (6-4, 7-6) at the No. 1 position and Stanislav Glukhov defeating Pawel Turzanski (6-4, 6-4) at the No. 2 spot ... against the Grizzlies, the Vandals took two of the three doubles matches before continuing to roll in singles play, taking five of the six singles matches ... sophomore Paulo Mirando notched a solid win over Alexandre Gorj of Montana (6-3, 6-0), while freshman Andrew Dobbs made quick work of Greg Friedman (6-4, 6-2) at the No. 5 position ... up next, the Vandals take this weekend off before returning to action against WAC foe Boise State and San Diego, Apr. 5-6, in Boise, Idaho.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada returns home from the Boise State Spring Break Invitational after compiling a 1-2 record ... the Wolf Pack dropped their first match to BYU (4-2) and also fell to Ball State (5-2), before bouncing back to defeat Georgia State (7-0) in the final match of the weekend ... the Wolf Pack was led by sophomore Laurent Garcin, who tallied three singles victories and two doubles wins ... Garcin topped BYU’s Jonathan Sanchez (6-2, 6-0), defeated Jose Perdomo of Ball State (6-3, 6-2) and took down Georgia State’s Nejc Podkrajsek (4-6, 7-6, 10-6), all at the No. 1 position ... sophomore Alex Daruty also notched two singles victories, beating BYU’s Cassidy Mears (6-0, 6-1) and Aleksander Elezovic of Georgia State (6-2, 6-4) ... this week, the Wolf Pack welcome Weber State and Pacific to Reno, Mar. 28-30.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State comes off a split pair of matches, first falling to No. 24 Oklahoma (7-0) on Mar. 22, before rallying to sweep Oral Roberts (4-0), Mar. 23 ... the Aggies have now lost four of five matches at the hands of ranked teams ... after winning two of three doubles matches against the Eagles, the Aggies made quick work of their singles opponents ... junior Roman Stoisavlejvic was the first Aggie to finish, downing ORU’s Alex Dargel (6-2, 6-0) at the No. 2 position ... freshman Jim Brouleau beat Denis Troyke (6-3, 6-3) at the No. 3 spot, while junior Stefan McKinney won at No. 4 over Dario Beslic (6-2, 6-1) ... this week, the Aggies return to action to take on Texas-San Antonio, Lamar and Samford, Mar. 26-28, in San Antonio, Texas.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State looks to bounce back after falling to Montana State, 4-3, on Mar. 6 in Logan ... the Aggies were led by sophomore Oscar Ericsson and senior Fernando Gallegos, who both earned singles victories and teamed up to earn the only doubles win over Montana State ... Ericsson knocked off Pawel Turzanksi, 6-4, 6-2, at the No. 2 position, while Gallegos defeated Jakub Dybala, 6-0, 1-6, 6-4, at the No. 3 spot ... senior Jonas Tyden also tallied a win at No. 4 singles, topping Montana State’s Fletcher Keyes, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 ... Ericsson and Gallegos teamed up to beat Keyes and Myles Perkins, 8-4, at the No. 2 doubles position ... up next, the Aggies will have nearly two weeks off before returning to action on Wednesday, Apr. 9 against Weber State in Ogden, Utah.
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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