DENVER ? This week, five WAC schools are in action, with all teams closing out their regular season schedules. Hawai?i will go on the road to take on Eastern Washington and WAC foe Idaho, Apr. 15-16, before returning to Honolulu to host Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade, Apr. 20. The Idaho Vandals will travel to Spokane, Wash., to square off with Gonzaga, Apr. 15, before returning home to Moscow to host Lewis & Clark State College and Eastern Washington, Apr. 19. No. 15 Fresno State welcomes No. 37 Long Beach State, Cal Poly and Pacific to Fresno, Apr. 18-19, while the No. 69 Nevada Wolf Pack hosts UC Davis in Reno on Apr. 18. San Jose State closes out its regular season on the road at Cal State Bakersfield, Apr. 18.
No. 38 Boise State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State and Utah State will take this weekend off to prepare for the WAC Championships, Apr. 24-26, in Las Cruces, N.M.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Boise State’s Pichittra Thongdach has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Apr. 7-13. This is the second career Player of the Week honor for Thongdach, earning the award once already this season.
Thongdach, a sophomore from Petchaburi, Thailand, (Thailand) tallied two victories over ranked opponents, helping the Broncos top WAC foe No. 65 Nevada (4-3). In singles play, Thongdach upset No. 59 Maria Mizyuk of Nevada (4-6, 6-4, 6-4) at the No. 1 position. In doubles action, Thongdach paired with teammate Polina Kokoulina to take down No. 38 Caroline Bailly and Mizyuk of Nevada in a close 9-8 match.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State was perfect in both singles and doubles with wins over WAC foe Hawai?i (7-0), No. 43 Saint Mary’s (6-1) and Loyola Marymount (6-1), tallying singles victories over No. 82 Sophie Kobuch of Hawai?i (6-4, 6-0), Saint Mary’s Alex Poorta (6-0,. 6-1) and Loyola Marymount’s Tamara Tanner (6-0, 6-1) ... Adriana Makowska of Louisiana Tech led the Lady Techsters to a 5-2 win over Grambling State, earning a win over Faith Williams (6-2, 6-2) to tally her fifth-straight and seventh singles win in her last eight matches ... Caroline Bailly of Nevada went 2-0 in singles action, topping No. 27 Denver’s Annette Aksdal, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 1-0 (10-4), and No. 41 Boise State’s Polina Kokoulina, (7-5, 6-3), and also paired with teammate Maria Mizyuk to take down No. 35 Mallory Voekler and Julia Beauregger of Denver, 8-5 ... Stepahnie Eusebe of New Mexico State won all four of her singles matches at the No. 3 position, defeating Megan Pritchard of UTEP (6-2, 6-3), UC Irvine’s Clare Fernin (6-4, 4-6, 10-3), Canna Furuta of Cal State Northridge (6-1, 6-1) and Cal State Fullerton’s Jerusha Cruz (6-1, 6-4).
Boise State Broncos
No. 38 Boise State ended its 2008 regular season splitting matches, first falling to No. 27 Denver (6-1), Apr. 12, before bouncing back to top WAC foe No. 65 Nevada (4-3), Apr. 13 ... the Broncos were only able to pick up one singles victory in their loss to the Pioneers, snapping their 11-match winning streak ... junior Klaudia Wlodarczyk earned a 7-5, 2-6, 10-6 win over Denver’s Ute Schnoy, tallying the Broncos only singles point against the Pioneers ... Boise State captured three singles victories against the Wolf Pack, all in three-set matches ... up next, the Broncos will take this weekend off to prepare for the WAC Championships, Apr. 24-26, in Las Cruces, N.M.
Fresno State Bulldogs
No. 15 Fresno State earned three-straight victories, topping WAC foe Hawai?i (7-0), No. 43 Saint Mary’s (6-1) and Loyola Marymount (6-1) ... against the Lions, No. 14 Melanie Gloria defeated No. 67 Pavla Mesterova (6-0, 6-1), at the No. 1 position ... against WAC foe Hawai?i, No. 21 Anastasia Petukhova topped No. 82 Sophie Kobuch (6-4, 6-0) at the No. 1 position ... Petukhova also notched dominating wins over Alex Poorta of No. 43 Saint Mary’s (6-0, 6-1) and Loyola Marymount’s Tamara Tanner (6-0, 6-1), both at the No. 2 position ... Fresno State recorded wins in all three doubles matches against both the Rainbow Wahine and the Lions ... this week, the Bulldogs close out their regular season, hosting No. 37 Long Beach State, Cal Poly and Pacific, Apr. 18-19 in Fresno.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai?i earned its second-straight victory of the 2008 season with a 5-1 win over Azusa Pacific ... the Rainbow Wahine then fell to both WAC foe No. 17 Fresno State (7-0), and No. 43 Saint Mary’s (6-1) ... the Rainbow Wahine captured five of six singles matches to clinch the match over the Cougars, with victories by Natasha Zorec, Jennifer Goldman, Sophie Kobuch, Marie Tanaka and Chole Bihag ... Zorec also earned the only singles victory against the Lions, topping Marah Calvo, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (6) ... this week, the Rainbow Wahine close out their regular season, traveling to take on Eastern Washington and WAC foe Idaho, Apr. 15-16, before returning to Honolulu to host Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade, Apr. 20.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho won its seventh-straight match with a 4-3 win over Portland State, improving to 14-8 this season ... the Vandals took the doubles point, capturing two wins over the Vikings ... in singles action, Idaho tallied three wins to secure the victory over visiting Portland State ... freshman Silvia Irimescu defeated Lacey Pfibsen (6-2, 6-2) at the No. 1 position, while sophomore Basia Maciocha took down Stephanie Fuchs (6-3, 6-3) at the No. 2 spot ... freshman Natalie Kirch clinched the match with a win over Caitlin Stocking (7-6, 6-7, 6-3) at the No. 6 position ... this week, the Vandals close out their regular season, with four matches against Gonzaga, Hawai?i, Eastern Washington and Lewis & Clark State.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
Louisiana Tech held off an excited Grambling State home crowd to earn a 5-2 victory over the Tigers in its regular season finale ... junior Ada Makowska kept her winning streak alive, notching a win over Faith Williams (6-2, 6-2), finishing the regular season on a five-match winning streak and having won seven of her last eight matches ... Rocio Juarez defeated Maia Semendjuva in three sets (5-7, -0, 6-4), while Ashley Wedderburn held off Maliana Davis (6-3, 6-2) ... up next, Louisiana Tech will take this weekend off to prepare for the WAC Championships, Apr. 24-26, in Las Cruces, N.M.
Nevada Wolf Pack
No. 69 Nevada dropped two close matches to No. 27 Denver (4-3), Apr. 11, and WAC foe No. 41 Boise State (4-3), Apr. 13 ... eight of Nevada’s 10 losses have come by a score of 4-3 ... junior Caroline Bailly and sophomore Alice Hall both earned two singles victories over the Pioneers and the Broncos ... Bailly topped Denver’s Annette Aksdal, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 1-0 (10-4) and Polina Kokoulina of Boise State (7-5, 6-3), both at the No. 2 position ... Hall earned two straight-set victories, taking down Ute Schnoy of Denver (7-6, 6-4) and Boise State’s Bianca Jochimsen (6-0, 6-3), both at the No. 3 position ... this week, the Wolf Pack close out their regular season, hosting UC Davis, Apr. 18, in Reno.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State closed out its regular season after notching a 2-2 record in its final weekend ... the Aggies topped UTEP (5-2), fell to No. 57 UC Irvine (6-1) and Cal State Northridge (4-3), before bouncing back to defeat Cal State Fullerton (7-0) ... junior Stephanie Eusebe won four-straight singles matches, finishing the season with a team-leading 15 victories ... Eusebe was the only Aggie to notch a win over the Anteaters, topping Clare Fermin (6-4, 4-6, 10-3 ) at the No. 3 spot ... senior Anne Fagegaltier closed out the regular season with 14 singles victories, and all but two of her 14 wins came in straight sets ... up next, the Aggies will take this weekend off to prepare for the WAC Championships, Apr. 24-26, in Las Cruces, N.M.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State looks to bounce back from its two losses against San Francisco (6-1) and Texas-Pan American (6-1) ... against the Dons, freshman Anna Guzman was the only Spartan to tally a singles victory, downing Jessica Kapoor (4-6, 6-0, 6-1) at the No. 6 position ... senior Ashley Tavita earned the only point against the Broncs, defeating Giana Oliveira in straight-sets (6-3, 6-3) at the No. 1 spot ... Tavita also paired with teammate Amber Silverstone to notch a No. 1 doubles victory over Oliveira and Julia Cirne-Lima (8-6) ... this week, the Spartans close out their 2008 regular season on the road at Cal State Bakersfield, Apr. 18.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State looks to bounce back after falling to Weber State (4-3), Apr. 8, and Northern Colorado (6-1), Apr. 11 ... freshman Hailey Swenson was the only Aggie to earn singles victories over both the Wildcats and the Golden Bears, topping Inalise Pienaar of Weber State (6-1, 6-4) and Northern Colorado’s Tiffany Knop (6-1, 6-1), both at the No. 2 position ... freshman Taylor Perry and sophomore Marie Livingston also notched wins against Weber State, with Perry beating Greyce Farias (6-3, 6-1) and Livingston topping Alyssia Pyne (6-2, 6-4) ... this week, the Aggies close out their regular season with two home matches versus Idaho State on Apr. 15 and Montana State on Apr. 18.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES ? This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will return to Las Cruces, New Mexico on the campus of New Mexico State, April 24-27. The 2007 champion, Fresno State, will look to win its seventh-straight title. Last season, Fresno State took the title at the Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, defeating second-seeded Boise State, 4-0.
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