Denver ? Nevada’s Laurent Garcin and Fresno State’s Melanie Gloria have been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Players of the Week, respectively, for March 23-29.
Garcin, a junior from Chateauroux les alpes, France (Aristide Briand HS) , led the Wolf Pack to three-straight wins in three-consecutive days last weekend in Reno. First, he posted a, 6-1, 6-1, victory over Gonzaga’s Stefan Feddersen in the No. 1 position, to aid in Nevada’s 6-1 win. He then continued his dominance onto the doubles’ court, as he paired with Augustin Myard to take down the Bulldog duo of Feddersen/Feeney, 8-4. In the Nevada’s 4-3 victory over the Saint Mary’s (CA), Garcin posted an impressive 6-0, 6-1, win over Gaels’ Achim Christner in the No. 1 spot. The senior closed out his weekend with a 6-0, 6-0, defeat of Colin Dektar of Montana in the top spot to go along with a doubles win with Myard on the way to a 5-2 victory over UM. Overall, Garcin finished 3-0 in singles play to move into fourth place on the school’s all-time career singles win list. It marks the first time this season he has garnered the WAC weekly honor.
Gloria, a senior from Montreal, Canada (Georges-Vanier), pulled off her second-consecutive upset over a top-25 opponent last week after she defeated No. 2 Maria Mosolova of top ranked-Northwestern, 6-4, 4-6, (10-4.) The win came in Fresno State’s 4-3 team loss to the No. 1 Wildcats. Last week, Gloria earned WAC Player of the Week honors after she successfully defeated the No. 17th-ranked player in the nation, Jana Juricova of No. 5 Cal. On Saturday, Gloria helped the Bulldogs bounce back en route to a 6-1 win over No. 47 Long Beach State as the senior defeated Hannah Grady, 6-4, 6-2, at the top position. Also, at the No. 2 doubles spot, Gloria and partner Tinesta Rowe earned a 9-8 (7-4) victory over the Banana Slugs’ Armstrong/Sutton squad. This is the third consecutive week that Gloria has earned the WAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week award.
Other male nominees: Boise State’s Kean Feeder, Fresno State’s Tejesvi Veerepalli, New Mexico State’s Roman Stoisavljevic and Utah State’s Jakob Asplund.
Other female nominees: Boise State’s Vivien Silfany, Hawai?i’s Sophie Kobuch, Nevada’s Maria Mizyuk, New Mexico State’s Laura Boguet and Utah State’s Britney Watts.