DENVER ? This week, five WAC schools are in action with four of those teams taking on ranked teams. The No. 36 Boise State Broncos will host WAC foe Idaho and No. 61 San Diego in Boise on Apr. 5. The Vandals will also take on the Toreros on Apr. 6 in Boise. No. 53 Fresno State will hit the road to take on No. 56 UC Santa Barbara on Apr. 4 and No. 13 Pepperdine on Apr. 6, while Hawai?i will travel to California to meet No. 48 San Diego State on Apr. 2, No. 66 UC Irvine on Apr. 4 and No. 4 UCLA on Apr. 6. The Nevada Wolf Pack will host San Francisco on Apr. 4 and UC Riverside on Apr. 6 in Reno.
Both New Mexico State and Utah State will take this weekend off before returning to action next week. The Aggies of New Mexico State will make the trip to Wichita, Kan., Apr. 11-13, to take on Wichita State, Illinois State and Bradley, while the Aggies of Utah State travel to Ogden, Utah for their next match versus Weber State on Apr. 9.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Hawai?i’s Jeff Fitch has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for the week of Mar. 24-30. This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Fitch.
Fitch, a junior from Carlsbad, Calif., (La Costa Canyon) shined for the Rainbow Warriors against No. 11 Tulsa on Mar. 29. Fitch earned one of two Rainbow Warrior wins in singles play, downing Tulsa’s Alberto Sottocorno, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 5 position. Fitch also paired with teammate Dennis Lajola to upset the No. 36-ranked duo of Arnau Brugues and Ricardo Soriana of Tulsa, 8-7 (5), at the No. 2 doubles spot.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Eric Roberson of Boise State aided the Broncos to victories over Utah (7-0), No. 73 Brown (6-1) and No. 43 Denver (5-2), going undefeated in both singles and doubles action, earning wins over Stephen Jacobs of Utah (7-6, 6-2), Brown’s Kendrick Au (6-3, 7-5) and Denver’s Kalle Rosen, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-5 ... Gustave Diep of New Mexico State helped the Aggies go undefeated against Texas-San Antonio (4-3), Lamar (5-2) and Samford (5-2), picking up wins over Rodrigo Morgado of Texas-San Antonio (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), Lamar’s Filip Kanczula (6-4, 6-2) and Samford’s Jordon Delass (6-3, 6-1) ... Laurent Garcin of Nevada went undefeated in singles action at the No. 1 position, downing Weber State’s Henning Hipp in straight sets (6-1, 6-3), before topping Mortiz Starke of Pacific (1-6, 6-2, 6-3).
Boise State Broncos
No. 36 Boise State tallied wins over Utah (7-0), No. 73 Brown (6-1) and No. 43 Denver (5-2), tallying its seventh-straight win ... the victory over the Pioneers marked the Broncos’ 12th win at home this season ... the Broncos were led by seniors Brent Werbeck, Eric Roberson and junior Clancy Shields, who each tallied three singles victories over the Utes, Bears and Pioneers ... Roberson also paired with teammate Paul Koenke to notch three doubles victories ... No. 60-ranked Clancy Shields earned three straight-set victories, topping Utah’s Othman Zerouali-Ouar (7-5, 6-2), defeating Jonathan Pearlman of Brown (6-3, 6-4) and downing Denver’s Niklas Persson (6-1, 6-2) ... this week, the Broncos welcome WAC foe Idaho and No. 61 San Diego to Boise on Apr. 5.
Fresno State Bulldogs
No. 53 Fresno State comes off four-straight home victories, earning wins over Eastern Washington (6-1), Saint Mary’s (6-1), DePaul (6-1) and UC Davis (7-0), improving to 12-1 at home this season ... the Bulldogs were led by junior Rudolf Siwy and freshman Denny Fafek, who each tallied four victories in singles action ... Siwy also notched wins in all four doubles matches, pairing with Mirko Zapletal in three and Taylor Leiby in the other win ... No. 104-ranked Siwy earned straight-set victories over Eastern Washington’s Kyle Schraeder (6-1, 6-3), Lucas Tirellis of Saint Mary’s (6-1, 6-3), DePaul’s Austin Doerner (6-2, 6-2) and Justin Garcia of UC Davis (6-4, 6-1) ... up next, the Bulldogs are on the road to take on No. 56 UC Santa Barbara and No. 13 Pepperdine, Apr. 4-6.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
Hawai?i opened its three-match road trip with a tough 5-2 loss to No. 11 Tulsa, Mar. 29 ... the Rainbow Warriors dropped to 2-9 on the season ... the Golden Hurricane took the doubles point, after winning two of the three matches ... the Hawai?i duo of Dennis Lajola and Jeff Fitch upset the No. 36-ranked duo of Arnau Brugues and Ricardo Soriano at the No. 2 doubles position, 8-7 (5), while the dynamic duo of Sascha Heinemann and Andreas Weber dropped a close 9-7 decision to No. 19 Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham at the No. 1 spot ... the Rainbow Warriors won two singles matches, with Heinemann and Fitch outlasting their opponents ... Heinemann defeated Soriano, 607 (6), 7-5, 1-0 (9), while Fitch topped Alberto Sottocorno, 6-4, 7-5 ... this week, the Rainbow Warriors return to action at No. 48 San Diego State on Apr. 2 and No. 66 UC Irvine on Apr. 4.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho returns from a pair of split matches, first falling to Montana State (5-2), on Mar. 21, before bouncing back to take down Montana (6-1), Mar. 22 ... 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 return to action against WAC foe No. 36 Boise State and No. 61 San Diego, Apr. 5-6, in Boise, Idaho.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada looks to bounce back after falling in two-straight home matches to Weber State (4-3) and Pacific (6-1) ... the Wolf Pack was led by sophomore Laurent Garcin, who tallied two singles victories and one doubles win ... Garcin topped Weber State’s Henning Hipp (6-1, 6-3) and took down Moritz Starke of Pacific (1-6, 6-2, 6-3), both at the No. 1 position ... Garcin is now 12-2 in dual play this season and 22-7 overall ... junior Benjamin David and sophomore Augustin Myard earned the only two other singles victories for the Wolf Pack over Weber State ... David defeated Fabio Mancarella (6-1, 6-4) at the No. 3 position, while Myard beat Chris Williams (3-6, 6-0, 6-2) at the No. 5 spot ... this week, the Wolf Pack welcome San Francisco and UC Riverside to Reno, Apr. 4-6.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State returns from San Antonio after tallying three wins over host Texas-San Antonio (4-3), Lamar (5-2) and Samford (5-2) ... the Aggies were led by sophomores Gustave Diep and Alejandro de Mucha, who each tallied three victories in singles action ... Diep topped Rodrigo Morgado of Texas-San Antonio (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), beat Lamar’s Filip Kanczula (6-4, 6-2) and defeated Jordan Delass of Samford (6-3, 6-1), all at the No. 1 position ... de Mucha beat each of his opponents in straight-sets, taking down Max Stratmann of Texas-San Antonio (6-2, 6-3), Lamar’s David Wanja (7-6, 6-0) and Richard Walsh of Samford (7-5, 6-2), all at the No. 6 spot ... this week, the Aggies will take this weekend off before returning to action to take on three Missouri Valley Conference opponents in Wichita State, Illinois State and Bradley, Apr. 9-11, in Wichita, Kan.
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 take this weekend 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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