ON TAP IN WAC MEN’S TENNIS ? After a weekend that saw Western Athletic Conference teams finish 8-5, including matches against five top 20 teams, the conference’s top teams hit the court again this week. Headlining the matches, No. 30 Boise State matches up against No. 71 Oklahoma and No. 39 Washington in back-to-back days. No. 54 Hawai?i travels to the mainland to take on No. 24 California. In Las Vegas, New Mexico State tries its luck against Cal Poly and then host No. 72 UNLV.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1 )
Denver - New Mexico State’s Jim Brouleau has been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for Jan. 26 - Feb. 1.
Brouleau, a sophomore from Poitiers, France (Lycee Victor Hugo), won all three of his singles matches in straight sets, helping the Aggies win all 18 of their singles matches in their opening weekend. In the three matches, Brouleau, the No. 16th-ranked player in the Mountain Region did not lose more than three games in any set. Including his fall tournament singles record, he now owns a 15-3 overall mark this season.
Other male nominees included: Utah State’s Bryan Marchant, Idaho’s Rob Chalkley and Boise State’s Kean Feeder.
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 are now 3-3 on the season, suffering three losses in a row ... their last win was over No. 14 ranked Pepperdine in Malibu ... the team has since had setbacks to No. 4 UCLA, No. 11 Stanford and No. 29 Vanderbilt ... BSU nearly cracked the top 25 with a No. 26 ranking after its performance in California two weekends ago, but since settled at the No. 30 spot ... No. 90 Kean Feeder was the Broncos best performer as he finished with a 3-1 record on the weekend including earning the teams only point against No. 11 Stanford ... the Broncos schedule doesn’t get any easier as it travels to Seattle, Wash. to take on No. 71 Oklahoma and No. 39 Washington this week ... the matches will be the sixth and seventh consecutive matches, respectively against ranked teams.
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. 32 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 cancelled due to weather ... Fresno State gears up for a two-match homestand as they host UC Irvine and UC Davis in a double header this weekend.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors
The Rainbow Warriors will look to repeat as WAC champions after their first-ever conference title last season ... sophomore Dennis Lajola leads the squad with his No. 56 national ranking ... Lajola is also ranked No. 7 in the West region with teammate Sascha Heinemann (no. 15) ... the doubles duo of Heinemann/Andreas Weber sits at the No. 14 spot in the region ... UH opened its season with a 23-6 loss at the hands of No. 36 Kentucky ... the Rainbow Warriors then dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 25 California, but bounced back against No. 57 San Diego State with a 6-1 victory in Honolulu ... sophomore Dennis Lajola shined as he took down No. 59 Kalim Stewart (California) ... Hawai?i had more than a week break as it prepared for Cal in Berkeley on Feb. 7.
Idaho Vandals
The Vandals opened their 2009 campaign in style as they finished 2-0 ... UI took care of business against Lewis and Clark State College, 6-1, and Whitman College, 7-0 ... transfer Alex Joitoiu went 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles during the weekend ...the team then finished out last weekend 2-1, dropping a 6-1 decision to Oregon in Eugene, but bounced back against Samford and UC Davis ... UI defeated Samford, a 2008 NCAA Tournament team, 5-2 before taking down a highly regarded UC Davis squad in a 4-3 thriller ... Idaho will take a week off before returning to the road in a match against Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash. on Feb. 13.
Nevada Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack opened its season on a good note when it took down Northern Arizona, 4-3, in a thriller ... the celebration was short-lived as the Nevada fell to No. 50 Arizona in Tucson, 6-1 ... freshman Wessim Derbel made his collegiate career debut last weekend and went unbeaten in singles ... he defeated Northern Arizona’s Robin Pezzutto 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in No. 4 singles before he defeated No. 50 Arizona’s Ravid Hazi, 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in the No. 3 singles spot ... the Wolf Pack will face Ponoma-Pitzer on Feb. 14, at Riverside, Calif., the match is set to begin at 1 p.m ... the team will also face UC Riverside the next day (Feb. 15).
New Mexico State Aggies
NMSU opened the season with a splash by taking its first three matches by a 7-0 score ... the Aggies dominated all three opponents from Northern Arizona, Western New Mexico and Abilene Christian ... sophomore Jim Brouleau earned WAC Tennis Player of the Week honors by not losing a single set in the teams three matches ... New Mexico State’s match against UT San Antonio, Feb. 7, is its first of three straight home matches... with a win over UTSA, the Aggies will have gone 3-1 in its first four matches four times in the last six seasons... last season New Mexico State posted a 5-2 record at home in the regular season.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State earned its first win of the season at Idaho State last week ... the Aggies took a 6-1 match from the Bengals ... in singles action, freshman Jordan Barlow swept David Kutchins in a 6-0, 6-0, match at number six singles ... at number two singles junior Amit Maharaj battled and defeated ISU’s Danel Barrenchea, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4 .... USU took the doubles point winning at all three spots ... sophomores Jakob Asplund and Marchant defeated the Bengals’ Javier Royo and Ross Dechant, 8-2, while Mahraj and Thatcher battled Danel Barrenechea and Alex Bucea winning, 9-8, 12-10, at the number two spot ... the team has a week before returning to action when it hosts Montana State-Billings on Feb. 13.