INDIANAPOLIS ? Members of Boise State’s men’s team and Fresno State’s women’s team have been selected by the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Subcommittees to participate in the 2008 NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Tennis Championships, May 21-26. Fresno State’s doubles tandem of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe have received the No. 2 seed in the women’s doubles championship and will be joined by teammates Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucervova as at-large selections. Gloria and Petukhova will also be participating in the women’s singles championship. Boise State’s Luke Shields and Clancy Shields will compete in the men’s doubles championship, while Clancy Shields will also take part in the men’s singles championship.
The singles and doubles competition will take place May 21-26 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., following the conclusion of the men and women’s team championships (May 15-20), hosted by the University of Tulsa.
Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible players ranked in the ITA Top 125. For conferences with more than one singles player within the ITA Top 125, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which student-athlete is the automatic qualifier from the conference. Automatic qualification into the Division I doubles championship is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible doubles teams ranked in the ITA Top 60. For conferences with more than one doubles team within the ITA Top 60, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which doubles team is the automatic qualifier from the conference.
Fresno State junior Melanie Gloria received the WAC’s automatic qualifier for the women’s singles championship, while sophomore Anastasia Petukhova earned an at-large selection in the singles competition. Gloria is the three-time defending WAC Player of the Year and is currently ranked No. 16 in ITA singles after compiling a record of 18-5 as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 singles player. This is Gloria’s third-straight year participating in the NCAA singles championships, with her best finish in 2007, falling in the Round of 16 to Baylor’s Zuzana Zemenova. Sophomore Anastasia Petukhova is currently ranked No. 22 in ITA singles after an impressive 24-3 record as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 singles player, and carries a nine-match winning streak into the NCAA Championships.
Gloria and Rowe received the WAC’s automatic qualifier for the women’s doubles championship, while teammates Petukhova and Kucerkova earned an at-large selection in the doubles competition. Gloria and Rowe are currently ranked No. 2 in ITA doubles after compiling a record of 19-6 as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 doubles tandem, tallying 13 wins over doubles teams on ITA Top 40 teams. Last year, Gloria and Rowe fell in the Round of 32 to Tennessee’s Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor. Petukhova and Kucerkova are currently ranked No. 33 in ITA doubles after an impressive 23-4 record as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 doubles tandem.
Boise State junior Clancy Shields received the WAC’s automatic qualifier for the men’s singles championship and will also compete in the men’s doubles championship with teammate and brother Luke Shields, as the WAC’s automatic qualifier for doubles. Clancy Shields is currently ranked No. 83 in ITA singles after compiling a record of 15-9 as the Broncos’ No. 2 singles player. His wins this year include those over players from then-No. 10. Alabama, No. 25 Texas A&M, No. 30. Notre Dame, No. 37. Stanford, No. 43. Pepperdine, No. 46. Oklahoma, No. 61. San Diego, No. 65. UC Santa Barbara, No. 67. Minnesota, No. 70. UNLV and No. 73. Brown.
Shields and teammate Luke Shields are currently ranked No. 29 in ITA doubles after notching a record of 15-3 as the Broncos’ No. 1 doubles tandem. This is the fourth-straight year that Luke Shields has participated in the NCAA men’s doubles championships, earning All-American status in 2005 in both singles and doubles by reaching the Round of 16 in each bracket.
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