ON TAP IN WAC WOMEN'S TENNIS - This week, No. 13 Fresno State is slated to represent the conference at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisc. this weekend. No. 37 Boise State, Nevada, Idaho and Louisiana Tech are all set to play this weekend. Four ranked teams are on the schedule this week.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Feb. 2-8)
Denver ? Boise State’s Lauren Megale has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Players of the Week for Feb. 2?8.
Megale, a freshman from Boise, Idaho (Laurel Springs HS/Arizona State), guided Boise State to a 3-0 record weekend after she finished the weekend, with a perfect 5-0 record as she did not lose a set during the three match stretch. Megale began her stellar play with a 6-0, 6-1, win over Colorado State’s Lauren Strasburger (ranked No. 28 in the Central Region). She then continued her dominance at the No. 1 singles by defeating Utah State’s Hailey Swenson, 6-3, 6-2. The freshman also made quick work of Nina Sertic of Kansas State, 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 2 singles spot. Megale then teamed up with Pichittra Thongdach at No. 1 doubles to a the duo posted a 2-0 record, stretching their overall record to 6-0 on the year. Megale now owns a 6-1 singles record in dual matches (19-5 overall, including tournaments).
Other female nominees: New Mexico State’s Sophie Marks and Utah State’s Hailey Swenson.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN HONOLULU- This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will return to Honolulu, Hawaii on the campus of Hawai?i, April 23-26. The 2008 champion, Fresno State, will look to defend its’ crown after the Bulldogs earned their seventh-consecutive WAC title with a 4-1 win over second-seeded Boise State.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
The Broncos are now 6-1 on the season after picking up three perfect 7-0 wins this past weekend against Colorado State, Utah State and Kansas State at home in Boise ... the Broncos improved to 5-0 at home, 4-0 in the ITA Central Region and 1-0 in WAC play ... BSU moved up in the ITA national rankings for the third-consecutive week to No. 37 ... freshman Lauren Megale finished with a 5-0 record and did not lose a set over the three match stretch ... this coming week they will travel to Salt Lake City to take on Utah, followed by a trip to Boulder, Colo., to face Colorado ... the pair of away duals will mark the start of a seven-week away schedule for the Broncos with their next home match scheduled for April 3 against Louisiana Tech.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Last weekend’s scheduled match against No. 69 Rice was canceled due to weather in the Fresno area ... Fresno State has only played half of its scheduled matches so far this season, winning both contests ... the lack of matches played won’t stop the team from making its best showing at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships this weekend in Madison, Wisc. ... the Bulldogs are the only team, men and women, in the WAC to travel to the national tournament ... Currently sitting at the No. 13 spot in the nation, 17th-ranked Melanie Gloria and 29th-ranked Anastasia Petukhova will lead the underdog Fresno State team ... the tournament is scheduled to run from Friday Feb. 13 and Monday Feb. 16.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
The Rainbow Wahine dropped their first two matches of the season to San Diego State and No. 65 UC Irvine last week ... both matches finished with a 4-3 score ... junior Sophie Kobuch was the bright spot as the French-native finished with a 3-1 record ... she won both doubles points she played in ... Kobuch and freshman Aglae Van den Bergh earned a clutch 9-8(3) victory against Ali Borowicz and Courtney Byron at the No. 3 doubles position to clinch the doubles point ... the duo has now won two straight doubles matches. ... the Rainbow Wahine will next embark on a five match Southern California road trip, beginning on Feb. 17 against UC Santa Barbara ... UH will also face Cal State Fullerton, No. 3 UCLA, Cal State Northridge, and San Diego.
Idaho Vandals
The Vandals opened last week’s competition with a 6-1 loss to No. 55 Oregon in Eugene ... after a short trip down to Portland, UI lost in a 4-3 thriller to Houston, but then rebounded against Portland St., 6-1 ... the team ended the road trip with a 6-1 loss to Portland ... Maria Perevoshchikova went 3-1 in singles from the No. 1 spot ... Perevoshchikova notched victories against Oregon’s Carmen Seremata, ranked No. 18 in the ITA Northwest singles rankings, in straight sets, Portland State’s Molly Knox 6-3, 7-5 and University of Houston’s Lucy Forward 6-3,6-1 ... after more than a week off, the Vandals travel to Bozeman, Mont. to try their luck against Wyoming and host Montana State.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
The Lady Techsters dropped to 0-4 on the year after setbacks against Alcorn State and Southeastern Louisiana last week ... LTU went down to Alcorn State, 5-2, while suffering a 4-3 heartbreaker at the hands of Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday ... junior Rocio Juarez picked up a three-set win over Ashley Longoria in the No. 4 spot by final scores of 7-5, 3-6 and 6-4, while in doubles competition, Juarez and freshman Maartje de Wit teamed up to best Morgane Dadot and Longoria 8-6 ... this week, Louisiana Tech goes head-to-head against Ark.
Nevada Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack garnered its first win of the season in its first match against Pacific last week ... Nevada was the victor in a 4-3 decision that took over six hours to complete ... junior Maria Mizyuk made her first singles appearance of the season with a 7-6, 6-2 over Clara Schuhmacher in the No. 5 spot ... sophomore Lais Ogata defeated Kateryna Nezhura 6-3, 7-5 in No. 3 singles and sophomore Florence De Vrye defeated topped Jolanta Twarowska 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 2 spot ... after nearly a two week break from action, the team returns to the court on Feb. 14 as it travels to California to take on No. 43 Sacramento State and No. 61 Saint Mary’s.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State leveled its record at 2-2 last week after dropping a 5-2 decision at the hands of Texas-San Antonio ... junior Sophia Marks won her only No. 1 singles match of the weekend against UTSA as she defeated Karen Scida in straight-sets, 7-6, 6-4 ... Laura Boguet and partner Stephanie Eusebe took down UTSA’s Dedering/Drabkovs, 8-5, in the team’s only doubles win ... the Aggies now only play two matches until Feb. 21 ... the welcomes Northern Arizona on Feb. 20 in Las Cruces ... the team ends the three-game homestand with Texas Pan American on Feb. 21.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State started its season off with a bang after a 7-0 victory against Cal State Bakersfield ... San Jose State was led by true freshman Kerri Kummer who, in her first collegiate dual-match experience, came away with a commanding straight set victory over Nefeli Diamanti 6-0, 6-0 ... the Spartans moved to 2-0 last week after a 7-0 win over UC Santa Cruz ... all Spartan singles won in straight sets which capped off the teams second 7-0 victory ... the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles players won all but three games, combined ... SJSU will take its 2-0 record on the road to play the Sonoma State Seawolves (1-0) on Feb. 17.
Utah State Aggies
The Aggies are now 1-3 on the season after losses to Colorado State (6-1) and WAC foe Boise State (7-0) over the weekend ... sophomore Hailey Swenson won the Aggies only point in Utah State’s, 6-1, loss to Colorado State ... Swenson won her number one singles match, 7-5, 3-6, 10-5, against CSU’s Laura Neal ... the Aggies will have a one week break in action before heading to Las Vegas where they will take on No. 50 UNLV and UC Riverside. Feb. 21-22.