ON TAP IN THE WAC - WAC teams return to the court and the road in most cases this week. Eleven of the scheduled 16 matches are on the road during this portion of the season stretch.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Feb. 9-15)
DENVER - Boise State’s Lauren Megale has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Players of the Week for Feb. 9?15.
Megale, a freshman from Boise, Idaho (Laurel Springs HS), swept through the competition last weekend in the No. 2 singles spot in dual matches against No. 51 Utah and No. 47 Colorado. She now has an 8-1 singles dual record in her first year as a Bronco, including winning every set she played and only allowing five games to her opponents in two matches. Megale defeated Utah’s Evgenia Kryucjkova, 6-0, 6-0, before playing to the same result against Melisa Esposito of Colorado, 6-1, 6-4. She also improved her doubles record with partner Pichittra Thongdach to 10-1 by taking down both Utah’s and Colorado’s No. 1 doubles squads, 8-6. This is the second time in as many weeks the freshman has earned the WAC weekly honor.
Other female nominees included: Nevada’s Florence De Vrye.
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.
Boise State Broncos
The Broncos are now 7-2 on the season after splitting matches this past weekend against No. 51 Utah and No. 47 Colorado on the road ... the Broncos are now 5-0 at home, 5-1 in the ITA Central Region and 1-0 in WAC play while also holding a 1-2 away record ... freshman Lauren Megale earned WAC Tennis Player of the Week honors for the second time in as many weeks after her weekend performance ... Megale won every set she played ...the team will take a week off from competition before traveling to BYU on Feb. 25 to followed by playing New Mexico and Northern Arizona on Feb. 27 and 28 in Albuquerque ... the matches mark week two of a seven-week away schedule for the Broncos with their next home match scheduled for April 3 against Louisiana Tech.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State fought hard in three matches against some of the top teams in the nation last weekend, but dropped all three at the ITA Indoor Team Championships in Madison, Wisc. ... the Bulldogs first went down to the defending national champions No. 7 Georgia Tech, 4-3 ... No. 12 Clemson then beat FS, 5-2 on Saturday ... then team then took No. 10 Florida State to the final point before losing, 4-3 ... junior Renata Kucerkova won all of her three matches at the Indoor Team Championships, including a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 27 Christy Striplin of Georgia Tech ... this week, the team returns to the court to improve upon its 2-3 record against St. Mary’s (Cal) on Feb. 21 in Fresno.
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
Idaho finished off an impressive week with victories over Wyoming and Montana State ... the Vandals won a thrilling 4-3 match against host Montana State and then took care of business against Wyoming, 5-2 ... the Vandals improved their record to 5-4 on the season with the victory over the Cowgirls on Saturday ... in singles, Maria Perevoshchikova, Basia Maciocha, Alexandra Ulesanu and Yvette Ly all improved to 2-0 this weekend with straight set victories against the Cowgirls ... Idaho swept Wyoming in doubles picking up its first doubles victory in three matches ... the Vandals are back in action Feb. 22 with matches against Portland State and Eastern Oregon in Cheney, Wash.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
The Lady Techsters dropped to 0-6 after suffering 7-0 setbacks to Arkansas-Little Rock and McNeese State over the weekend ... Rocio Juarez and Laura Rodriguez were able to take their Sunday opponents to three sets before falling, while Rodriguez and Smith took home Tech’s only double’s win with a 9-7 victory against McNeese ... the Techsters return to action at home Saturday against Central Arkansas ... the team will also host Centenary on Sunday afternoon ... both matches will be played at the Lady Techster Tennis Complex.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada was downed 6-1 by No. 43 Sacramento State Saturday, dropping them to 1-1 on the season ... Sophomore Florence De Vrye remains undefeated in singles dual play ... competing in the No. 2 singles spot for the second consecutive match, De Vrye defeated Aileen Tsan 6-4, 7-6 ... in the No. 1 spot, senior Caroline Bailly was defeated by No. 58 Katrina Zheltova 6-4, 6-3 ... in doubles action, Bailly and junior Maria Mizyuk were downed by Zheltova and Melissa Valenzuela 8-4 in the No. 1 spot.. them team’s schedule match against St. Mary’s (Cal) was canceled due to weather conditions and will not be rescheduled ... The Wolf Pack’s next match will be against No. 42 BYU on Feb. 28 in Provo, Utah ... the Wolf Pack will also face No. 50 Utah in Salt Lake City the next day.
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 two weeks ago 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. 20.
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 ... this week, the Aggies return from a one week break in preparation for a road trip to Las Vegas where they will take on No. 50 UNLV and UC Riverside. Feb. 20.