ON TAP IN THE WAC - WAC women's tennis kicks off a full weekend of conference play with Boise State and Reno serving as conference sites. In Boise, No. 38 Boise State will play host to Louisiana Tech and Hawai?i, while Utah State and Idaho will also compete against WAC foes. In Reno, No. 14 Fresno State, No. 56 Nevada, New Mexico State and San Jose State will do battle.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (March 23-March 29)
Denver ? Fresno State’s Melanie Gloria has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for March 23-29.
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 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.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
The Broncos held on to their No. 38 ranking after a 6-1 defeat of No. 51 San Diego ... the team is now 17-2 on the season, including an 11 match winning streak ... No. 72 Pichittra Thongdach earned a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, victory over USD’s Juliette Coupez in the No. 1 singles spot ... this week, Thongdach broke into the ITA doubles rankings with two different partners, freshmen Lauren Megale (No. 72) and Vivien Silfany (No. 79) ... after seven weeks of away matches, the Broncos return home to Boise for their final home matches of the season .... BSU enters this weekend with a 3-0 conference record ... BSU hosts WAC opponents Louisiana Tech, Hawaii and Idaho on Apr. 3 and 4 for their final matches in Boise.
Fresno State Bulldogs
The Bulldogs moved up one spot in the ITA team rankings to No. 14 after taking No. 1 Northwestern to the final point in a 4-3 loss to the Wildcats ... the team then bounced back with a 6-1 win over No. 47 Long Beach State ... No. 19 Melanie Gloria moved up five spots to No. 14 in the nation this week after her upset win over No. 2 Maria Mosolova of top ranked Northwestern, 6-4, 4-6, (10-4) ... overall, Fresno State has three players ranked including No. 23 Anastasia Petukhova and No. 77 Renata Kucerkova ... Kucerkova and Petukhova continue to establish their dominance on the doubles court, keeping their strong hold on the top spot in the nation ... the team will take on San Jose State and No. 56 Nevada in Reno this weekend.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai`i concluded its 10-match home stand with a 4-3 loss to No. 74 Marshall, Saturday ... the Rainbow Wahine dropped to 8-9 on the season with its fourth loss in the last five matches ... all four losses have come against ranked squads ... Just hours after losing a 5-2 match to No. 33 Illinois, the Rainbow Wahine took on another ranked squad in the Thundering Herd ... the match started out well with UH winning two of three doubles matches to take the doubles point ... junior Sophie Kobuch went 3-1 in singles play on the week and 2-2 in doubles play three ranked teams, she leads the team with 13-9 singles record and 15 doubles victories and has won seven of her last nine singles matches ... the team opens up WAC play next week with a trio of matches vs. Boise State (Apr. 3), Louisiana Tech (Apr. 3) and Utah State (Apr. 4) in Boise, Idaho.
Idaho Vandals
The Vandals improved to 12-4 on the season after a 5-1 win over Georgetown nearly three weeks ago ... Idaho won every singles match with the exception of No. 5, where Yvette Ly was forced to retire in the second set because of injury ... the team extended its winning streak to nine-straight matches, all of them have come on the road ... Maria Perevoshchikova went 5-0 overall on the weekend, going 3-0 at No. 1 singles, and 2-0 at No. 1 doubles ... she defeated Ksenia Slynko of Cincinnati 7-5,6-4 to clinch the overall win ... Perevoshchikova then defeated Olga Elkin of West Virginia University 6-1,6-0 before defeating Aileen Shea of Georgetown University 6-2,6-1 ... UI is off until April 3 when it travels to Pocatello, Idaho to take on in-state rival Idaho state.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
The Lady Techsters had their winning streak halted Saturday afternoon at the hands of Nicholls State after losing 7-0 in their spring home finale at the Lady Techster Tennis Complex ... the doubles team of Rocio Juarez and Makowska lost close 9-7 at No. 2, while Smith and de Wit at the No. 3 doubles lost 8-4 ... in singles competition, Makowska went 4-6 and 7-6 before losing the tiebreaker 10-5 while Smith went 2-6 and 6-1 before losing 10-7 in her tiebreaker ... the team will hit the road next weekend to Boise, Idaho, to begin conference play starting with Boise State on Friday, April 3.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada finished with a 2-1 record at the Vri Christi Collegiate Classic in Wichita, Kan., including a win over 66th-ranked Wichita State ... junior Maria Mizyuk bounced back from an early week loss and never lost a set in the next two matches ... she picked up a win over No. 66 Wichita State’s Stephanie Dalmacio 6-2, 6-4, on Saturday and Louisville’s Jo-Ann Van Aerde 6-0, 6-2 ... all her matches were played in the No. 3 position ... with the win over Van Aerde, she is now tied for fifth in Nevada’s all-time career singles wins list with 48 ... the win against the Shockers marked the team’s second win on the season against a ranked opponent ... this week, the Wolf Pack host San Jose State, New Mexico State and No. 14 Fresno State in Reno, Nev., before taking on Hawai?i on April 6.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State opens up conference play this weekend with matches against Nevada and San Jose State, March 3-4 ... last weekend saw the team drop a hard fought 4-3 match against Tulane ... junior Laura Boguet won both her singles and doubles matches for NMSU ... at No. 2 singles, Boguet defeated the Wave’s Mariam Kurdadze, 7-6, 7-5, Kurdadze had won her last nine matches and had a 15-3 singles record before facing Boguet ... the Aggies have played in six, one-point matches this season and their last three matches have all been decided by one point ... New Mexico State is 9-1 in WAC regular season matches since joining the league in 2005.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State improved to 9-8 last week with victories against Cal State Los Angeles, Southern Utah and Idaho State ... the Spartans took down the Bengals, 4-1, to finish off their three-match win streak ... in Las Vegas over the weekend, he Spartans took on Idaho State on Friday in the first of two matches, winning 4-1 ... then on Saturday, San Jose State defeated Southern Utah for the second time this season, 6-1 ... against SSU, senior Amber Silverstone found herself down 6-3 after the first set ... Silverstone battled back in the second and third to defeat Ksusha Nazarova, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 ... this week, SJSU returns home to play Sonoma State on March 31.
Utah State Aggies
The Aggies dropped to 3-13 after a 4-3 loss to Wyoming over the weekend ... In singles play, the Aggies took three points with wins at the number one, two, and six spots ... at the number one spot, sophomore Hailey Swenson dominated the Cowboys’ Sarah Summerfield, 6-3, 6-4 ... senior Bridgette Strickland defeated UW’s Carly Van Hollen, 7-5, 6-4, at the number two spot ... junior Brittany Watts’ swept Wyoming’s Calli Pass, 6-0 and 6-0 at the number six singles for USU’s third point ... USU will resume WAC play in Boise, Idaho with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 4. The Aggies will face Hawai’i at 1:30 p.m. (MT) and will follow with a match against Idaho at 5:30 p.m.
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.