DENVER ? This week, seven WAC schools are in action, with three schools hosting their opponents and three schools set to take on nationally ranked teams. The No. 36 Boise State Broncos welcome Portland State and WAC foe Utah State to Boise, Apr. 4. The Aggies will also take on Portland State in Boise on Apr. 5. No. 16 Fresno State hosts WAC foe No. 65 Nevada on Apr. 5 and No. 20 Pepperdine on Apr. 6, while the Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine welcome Hawaii Pacific to Honolulu on Apr. 2. Idaho will make the trip to Pullman, Wash., to take on Santa Clara, while Louisiana Tech hits the road to Searcy, Ark., to take on Harding on Apr. 5 and Central Arkansas on Apr. 6.
New Mexico State will have this weekend off before returning to the courts when they head to El Paso, Texas, to face UTEP, Apr. 8, while San Jose State returns home to host UC Santa Cruz, Apr. 8.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Utah State’s Hailey Swenson has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Mar. 24-30. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Swenson.
Swenson, a freshman from North Salt Lake City, Utah, (Woodscross) was undefeated in both singles and doubles play, helping the Aggies earn two team victories over Dixie State (7-0) and Cal State Bakersfield (6-1) in Logan, Utah. In singles action, Swenson topped Dixie State’s Ashley Lafeen, 6-0, 6-2, before defeating Ashley Thorneycroft of Cal State Bakersfield, 6-1, 6-0, both at the No. 2 position. In doubles play, Swenson paired with teammate Britney Watts to take down Annie Salmon and Rebecca Wright of Dixie State, 8-0, and also took down Cal State Bakersfield’s Sara Mijwel and Thorneycroft, 8-2.
Other women’s tennis nominees included: Stacey Housley of Boise State was perfect in both singles and doubles in wins over UC Santa Barbara (5-2) and No. 60 UC Irvine (5-2), tallying singles victories over UC Santa Barbara’s Asagi Onaga (7-6, 6-0) and Jessica Broadfoot of UC Irvine (7-5, 6-1) ... Yvette Ly of Idaho went undefeated in both singles and doubles play against Southern Utah, San Jose State and Bethany College, winning over WAC opponent Silvana Dukic of San Jose State (2-6, 7-5, 6-4) at the No. 3 position ... Adriana Makowska of Louisiana Tech led the Lady Techsters to a win over Centenary (4-3), taking down Lindsay Ezell (6-3, 6-1) and also rallying with teammate Rocio Juarez to win five-straight games in a come-from-behind victory over Gretchen Ashley and Kayleigh Sullivan (9-7) ... Maria Mizyuk of Nevada did not lose a game in her straight-set wins over Pacific’s Jolanta Twarowska (6-0, 6-0) and doubles victory over Twarowska and Olga Gumunyuk (8-0) with teammate Caroline Bailly ... Amber Silverstone of San Jose State extended her singles winning streak to eight, topping Southern Utah’s Kateryna Drynova (6-4, 2-6, 6-3)) and Barbara Maciocha of Idaho (6-4, 6-3).
Boise State Broncos
No. 36 Boise State extended its winning streak to nine-straight matches, after topping UC Santa Barbara (5-2) and No. 60 UC Irvine (5-2) ... with the win over the Anteaters, the Broncos close out a perfect 9-0 run in the month of March, with their last loss on Feb. 29 at No. 64 New Mexico ... the Broncos were led by juniors Klaudia Wlodarczyk and Laura Baum and senior Stacey Housley, who each earned singles wins over the Gauchos and Anteaters ... Wlodarczyk topped Charlotte Scatliffe of UCSB (6-4, 6-4) and UC Irvine’s Clare Fermin (6-3, 6-4) at the No. 3 position... up next, the Broncos will close out their home season when they play host to Portland State and WAC foe Utah State on Apr. 4.
Fresno State Bulldogs
No. 16 Fresno State split a pair of home matches, first falling to No. 10 USC (6-1) on Mar. 27, before downing Harvard (5-2) on Mar. 29 ... USC has five players ranked in the top 110 in the ITA ... junior Melanie Gloria earned the only Bulldogs victory in singles play over the Trojans, taking down No. 52 Lindsey Nelson (7-5, 7-5) ... against the Crimson, the Bulldogs tallied victories in the top-three singles positions ... No. 13 Anastasia Petukhova topped Beier Ko, 6-1, 3-0 (ret.), No. 12 Renata Kucerkova defeated Laura Peterzan, 6-4, 6-0, and No. 109 Tinesta Rowe beat Samantha Rosekrans, 6-4, 6-2 ... this week, the Bulldogs return home to face WAC foe No. 65 Nevada on Apr. 5 and No. 20 Pepperdine on Apr. 6 in Fresno.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai?i looks for its first win of the season, after falling to 0-14 with a loss to Pac-10 powerhouse and No. 8 UCLA (7-0) on Mar. 25 ... eleven of the Rainbow Wahine’s losses have come against ranked opponents ... the Bruins feature five singles players ranked in the top-100 in the ITA ... the Bruins swept all three doubles matches, but the No. 1 duo of Sophie Kobuch and Chloe Bihag gave UCLA’s Elizabeth Lumpkin and Alex McGoodwin a tough battle, falling 8-6 in the end ... in singles, No. 88 Kobuch dropped a tough match to No. 47 Tracy Lin (6-3, 6-2) at the No. 1 spot ... this week, the Rainbow Wahine welcome Hawaii Pacific on Apr. 2.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns home after winning three matches in Las Vegas, notching victories over Southern Utah (7-0), San Jose State (4-3) and Bethany College (7-0) ... the Vandals have now won nine of their last 10 matches, improving to 12-8 this season ... the Vandals were led by freshman Yvette Ly, who went undefeated in both singles and doubles against the Thunderbirds, the Spartans and the Swedes ... against WAC foe San Jose State, Ly defeated Silvana Dukic (2-6, 7-5, 6-4) at the No. 3 singles position, and paired with teammate Alexandra Ulesana at No. 2 doubles to beat Anna Guzman and Sanda Hadzisabic (8-1) ... this week, the Vandals make the trip to Pullman, Wash., to take on Santa Clara, Apr. 5.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
Though playing shorthanded, Louisiana Tech was able to hold off Centenary, coming out on top, 4-3, in a tight match ... with only four players in action, the Lady Techsters claimed both doubles matches and won three singles matches to claim the hard-earned victory ... the Lady Techsters were led by Ada Makowska and Rocio Juarez, who both won their singles matches, and also battled back in their doubles match to seal the doubles point ... Makowska and Juarez trailed Centenary’s Gretchen Ashley and Kayleigh Sullivan, 7-4, but rallied to win five-straight games to win 9-7 ... up next, Louisiana Tech will hit the road to take on Harding on Apr. 5 and Central Arkansas on Apr. 6.
Nevada Wolf Pack
No. 65 Nevada won its fourth-straight match with a 4-3 victory over Pacific, Mar. 30, in Reno ... the Wolf Pack evened their record to 7-7 on the season with the win over the Tigers ... Nevada was led by sophomore Maria Mizyuk and junior Caroline Bailly, who recorded impressive wins over their opponents ... the No. 58-ranked tandem of Mizyuk and Bailly blanked Jolanta Twarowska and Olga Gumynyuk (8-0) at the No. 1 doubles spot ... No. 59 Mizyuk also cruised to a quick straight-set win over Twarowska in No, 1 singles (6-0, 6-0), while Bailly finished off Svenja Arens (6-0, 6-1) at the No. 2 spot ... this week, the Wolf Pack head to Fresno to take on WAC foe No. 16 Fresno State, Apr. 5.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State returns home from Hattiesburg, Miss., after falling to Troy (5-2), Mar. 28, and Southern Mississippi (4-3), Mar. 30 ... the Aggies have lost three matches this season by a one-point margin ... junior Stephanie Eusebe picked up her third-straight victory at No. 3 singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Troy’s Mirte De Bakker ... senior Zeljka Juricek ended her eight-match losing streak with a win over Southern Mississippi’s Brittany Serret (6-2, 4-6, 6-2), while junior Paulina Zuniga won for the first time in her last three matches, defeating Zoe Lee (6-3, 6-3) ... up next, the Aggies will have this weekend off before returning to the courts when they head to El Paso, Texas, to face UTEP, Apr. 8.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State comes off a pair of split matches, first topping Southern Utah (5-2) on Mar. 29, before falling to WAC foe Idaho (4-3) on Mar. 30, in Las Vegas, Nev. ... junior Amber Silverstone won her eighth-straight singles match, earning victories over Southern Utah’s Kateryna Drynova (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) and Barbara Maciocha of Idaho (6-4, 6-3) ... senior Ashley Tavita was the only other Spartan to earn two singles victories over the Thunderbirds and the Vandals, topping Kirrily Burden of Southern Utah, 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-6), and Idaho’s Silvia Irimescu, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 ... up next, San Jose State returns home to host UC Santa Cruz, Apr. 8.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State returned to action after nearly three weeks off, tallying convincing wins over Dixie State (7-0) and Cal State Bakersfield (6-1) ... against the Rebels, junior Bridgette Strickland and sophomore Marie Livingston did not give up a game in the No. 3 and No. 6 slots, respectively, defeating Annie Salmon and Ashley Johnson by scores of 6-0, 6-0 ... Britney Watts and Hailey Swenson also paired up to blank Rebecca Wright and Salmon, 8-0, at No. 2 doubles ... Livingston also did not give up a game against her Roadrunner opponent, topping Leslie Begley (6-0, 6-0) ... the Aggies return to action this week when they take on WAC foe No. 36 Boise State and Portland State, Apr. 4-5, in Boise, Idaho.
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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