This Week in WAC Women's Tennis - After Fresno State successfully played its way into the ITA National Indoor Championships last weekend, the Bulldogs are back at it with a match against former WAC foe 69th-ranked Rice this week. No. 38 Boise State also hosts Colorado State, Kansas State and the Utah State in the league's first conference match. New Mexico State will play its first home match of the season when Texas-San Antonio makes a visit to Las Cruces. Closing out the weekend, Louisiana Tech hosts Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1)
Denver ? Hawai?i’s Sophie Kobuch has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for Jan. 26 - Feb. 1.
Kobuch, a junior from Tournefeuille, France (Home school graduate), finished the week with a 3-1 overall record as she defeated Julia Trunk of San Diego State, 6-2, 6-3 last Friday. She then teamed up with teammate Aglae Van den Bergh to take down the Aztecs’ Cadua/Kitts pair, 8-3, in the No. 3 position. The duo also teamed up to earn UH’s doubles point against No. 65 UC Irvine. The pair defeated Courtney Byron and Ali Borowicz, 9-8 (3).
Other female nominees included: Nevada’s Maria Mizyuk, Utah State’s Hailey Swenson and Boise State’s Lauren Megale.
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 showed well in their ITA Qualifier last week as they went up against ranked opponents in No. 11 Clemson and No. 39 Louisville ... after dropping a 4-1 match to host Clemson, BSU battled back for a huge victory against Louisville ... freshman Laura Megale shined as she finished the weekend with a 3-1 record with her lone loss coming at the hands of No. 10 Josipa Beck of Clemson, whom she took to three sets ... the team will look to build on the weekend performances as it hosts Colorado State, Kansas State and WAC foe Utah State this week ... the Broncos are now 3-1 on the year ... since opening the season with a ranking of 45, the team has climbed the charts to No. 38 in three weeks.
Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State has jumped up three spots in the ITA Tennis polls after its stellar performance in last weeks ITA Qualifier ... The Bulldogs went 2-0 last week in National Team Indoors qualifying matches with wins against two nationally ranked teams ... Fresno State first beat Denver, previously the No. 28 team in the country, and then the next day beat Vanderbilt, which was ranked 12th at the time ... the Bulldogs set the tone early on with by winning the doubles point ... Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova, the second-ranked doubles team in the country, took care of business with a 8-2 victory over Vanderbilt’s Catherine Newman and Courtney Ulery ... this week, the team plays another ranked opponent and a former WAC foe as No. 69 Rice makes the trip to the Valley.
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 weeks 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 ... Idaho is off until a neutral site game in Cheney, Washington against Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 6.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
The Lady Techsters opened their season this past week with two losses to Stephen F. Austin and Houston ... the team lost to SFA by a score of 6-1 with its lone point coming from sophomore Mallory Smith ... Smith beat the Lady Jacks’ Mary Harrison in three sets by scores of 7-5, 2-6 and 10-6 ... the Techsters will return home for two days of matches beginning with Alcorn Friday, Feb. 6, at 1:30 p.m. and Southeastern on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 11 a.m. ... the team plays in Ruston for five out of the next six matches with its only road match at Arkansas - Little Rock on Feb. 14.
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. 58 Sacramento State and No. 59 Saint Mary’s.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State went 2-1 in its first weekend of spring competition in each of the last two season and both of the losses have come to a ranked UNLV team... senior Stephanie Eusebe went 2-1 in singles competition and 1-1 in doubles play ... her only losses came against her opponents from UNLV, who is ranked No. 39 nationally ... ... after going 5-4 in one-point matches last season, the Aggies won their first 4-3 match this year... the Aggies now only play three matches until Feb. 21 and all three are at home beginning with Texas-San Antonio on Feb. 7 along with Northern Arizona on Feb. 20 ... 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 rest of the Spartan singles lineup: Amber Silverstone, Silvana Dukic, Olivia Marshall, Jennifer Williams, and Sanda Hadzisabic all beat their opponents in straight sets ... this week, the team prepares for its home opener when UC Santa Cruz makes the trip to San Jose this Wednesday.
Utah State Aggies
The Aggies fell to 1-1 on the season after a 7-0 loss at the hands of No. 43 BYU last week in Provo ... the loss came just eight days after a crushing defeat of Idaho State, 6-1 ... USU continues its seven-match road swing as it travels to Boise to take on Boise State in the league’s first conference game on Friday ... the team will also play Colorado State the following day ...the Aggies don’t return home to Logan until Feb. 25 when they host Weber State.