ON TAP IN WAC MEN’S TENNIS ? This week, No. 29 Boise State takes on No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville in the marquee match of the week. Idaho and New Mexico State will do battle in Las Cruces in the first conference match of the season. No. 42 Fresno State takes on two Pac-10 opponents in Seattle, while Utah State tries its luck against No. 73 UNLV.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Feb. 9-15 )
Denver ? Utah State’s Alex Thatcher has been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 9?15.
Thatcher, a junior from Paradise, Utah (Mountain Crest HS), won both his No. 5 singles matches this weekend in the Aggies back-to-back wins against Montana State-Billings and Northern Arizona. Thatcher defeated MSUB’s Geoff Fehr in a quick, 6-1, 6-2, match and then teamed with fellow Aggie Amit Maharaj to win their number No. 2 match, 8-3. Saturday against Northern Arizona, Thatcher battled and won, 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, against NAU’s Jaco Visagie. Thatcher and Maharaj also partnered and won at the No. 2 doubles spot, 9-8. This marks the first time this season a Utah State player has earned the award.
Other male nominees included: Nevada’s Benjamin David and Augustin Myard.
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, Hawai?i, will look to defend its’ crown after it earned its first-ever WAC title with a 4-2 win over second-seeded Fresno State.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
The Broncos snapped their three-game losing streak after a 4-3 victories over No. 71 Oklahoma and No. 39 Washington last time out ... senior Kean Feeder (57) was the only Bronco to finish 2-0 in singles play ... Boise State improved to 5-3 on the season as well as a 4-3 record against nationally ranked teams ... the team has played the most ranked teams among the seven conference teams thus far this season ... senior Kean Feeder improved 33 spots in the latest ITA singles rankings, jumping to No. 57 in the nation ... after a weekend off, the team next competes on Sat., Feb. 21 at No. 1 Virginia followed by a match on Sun., Feb. 22 at No. 67 College of William and Mary in Virginia.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State got its season off to a good start with a 6-1 victory over Cal Poly, in a rescheduled match .... the celebration was short-lived as the team traveled south to Los Angeles, Calif. to try its luck in the ITA Indoor Tournament Qualifier ... the Bulldogs took care of business in the opening round with a 4-3 win over SMU ... No. 33 Rudolf Siwy earned his keep when he made quick work of SMU’s Chris Hooshyar, 6-2, 6-3 ... the team then met No. 4 UCLA, but couldn’t find its stride against the host Bruins in a 4-1 loss ... two matches were canceled due to weather ... Fresno State also had its double-header canceled last weekend due to weather conditions ... the team hits the road to Seattle on Feb. 21 to take on Oregon and Washington.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
The Rainbow Warriors moved up one spot in the latest ITA rankings to No. 52 from last week ... Dennis Lajola is currently ranked No. 75 in the nation ... after a stellar first month of play, Leo Rosenberg cracked the ITA rankings for the first time with a rank of 84 ... UH dropped to 1-3 on the season after a 5-2 setback at the hands of No. 50 San Diego on Feb. 10 ... the team’s lone win came against No. 57 San Diego State ... all four dual matches have come against ranked teams ... the scheduled match against No. 66 St. Mary’s was postponed due to wether condition and was tentatively rescheduled for later this week ... UH looks toward nearly three weeks off until its next match as it hosts San Francisco on Mar. 7 in Honolulu.
Idaho Vandals
After a 13-day layoff, the Vandals showed little rust to improve to 5-1 on the season against Gonzaga ... Idaho defeated the Bulldogs 5-2, while Alex Joitoiu, Rob Chalkley and Alan Shin all picked up straight set victories ... Junior Stanislav Glukhov recorded a hard fought three set win at No. 2 singles to help ensure Idaho left Spokane with a win ... Idaho swept doubles with the pairings of Artern Kuznetsov/Alex Joitoiu, Robert Chalkley/Timothy Huynh and Alan Shin/Hugh McDonald overcoming their opponents ... the team opens confererence play this week with a roadtrip to Las Cruces, N.M. to take on New Mexico State.
Nevada Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack improved to 3-1 last weekend with wins in California against Pomona Pitzer (7-0) and UC Riverside (6-1) ... Benjamin David and Augustin Myard both won all four of their matches this weekend -- two doubles and two singles ... Myard is 2-0 in dual play while he and David are 2-0 together this season ... freshman Wessim Derbel continues to remain unbeaten in his collegiate career as he defeated Felix Macherez of UC Riverside on Sunday 6-2, 6-2 to become 4-0 since joining the team in the spring ... the team swept all singles matches over the two-match stretch ... Nevada returns to the court on Mar. 1 as it hosts Sonoma State.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State’s 5-0 start to the season marked the first time in the last 10 years that the Aggies have won their first five matches ... The Aggies’ 4-3 win over No. 72 UNLV was their first win over a ranked opponent since Feb. 22, 2004, when they beat No. 70 Denver 6-1 in Las Cruces ... the Aggies’ bid for a 6-0 start to the season fell short in a 4-3 loss to Cal Poly in their last match in Las Vegas ... New Mexico State has won 29-of-36 singles matches this season and cracked the ITA national rankings at No. 75 for one week but has since dropped out of the rankings ... junior Gustave Diep is 6-0 in singles play ... the teams’ No. 1 doubles team of senior Roman Stoisavljevic and junior Eduardo Salas are 4-1 together this year... after a week off, the Aggies host matches against Montana State, Idaho and Texas- Pan American this week.
Utah State Aggies
The Aggies rallied off their thrid-straight victory with a 5-2 defeat of Northern Arizona last weekend ... the win came after a 7-0 sweeping of Montana State-Billings just one day prior ... junior Alex Thatcher earned WAC Tennis Player of the Week honors after he went 4-0 over the two-match stretch ... against Norther Arizona, USU won at the number three through six positions, sophomore Bryan Marchant won in a quick, 6-4, 6-3, match at No. 3 singles while senior Mike Banks battled at No. 4 and won, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, against NAU’s Chris Arena ... at No. 5 five singles Thatcher fought to a 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, win over Jaco Visagie while freshman Jordan Barlow won at No. 6 singles, 7-6, 7-5, against the Lumberjacks’ Berlin Powell ... this week, the team travels to Las Vegas, Nev. to do battle with UC Riverside and No. 73 UNLV.