POSLUSNY NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State’s Sven Poslusny has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Jan. 18-24. This is the first-ever honor for Poslusny.
Poslusny, a freshman from Loerrach, Germany, helped Utah State to a 1-1 record last week by going undefeated in both singles and doubles. In a 5-2 win at Idaho State, Poslusny notched a 6-7(7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win at No. 1 singles and a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles with partner Amit Maharaj. In a close 4-3 loss at No. 51 Utah, he posted a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles and a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles.
Other nominees included: Boise State’s Filipp Pogostkin picked up wins at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles in a 4-3 win over Oregon … Tejesvi Veerepalli of Fresno State went undefeated at the No. 3 spot in a pair of WAC wins … New Mexico State’s Jim Brouleau helped the Aggies defeat No. 58 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi with wins at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles.
PATTON PICKS UP 300TH VICTORY WITH WIN OVER OREGON
Greg Patton earned his 300th win at Boise State with a 4-3 victory over Oregon last Thursday. Tied 3-3 after the doubles matches and five singles matches had completed, the Broncos’ win came down to the No. 4 singles match, played by Cristian Hodel. He had split the first two sets of the match with Oregon’s Ric Mortera, 4-6, 6-3, and came back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a thrilling 6-4 third-set win and give the Broncos the win. With the win, Patton improved to 300-101 in his career at Boise State.
FRESNO STATE PICKS UP TWO WAC WINS
No. 45 Fresno State got off to a 2-0 start by winning both halves of a WAC doubleheader last Sunday. The Bulldogs first knocked off Idaho 4-0, then finished with a 4-3 win over Nevada. Because of the possibility of rain, the officials decided to start competition with singles action and played doubles only if the team victory was not clinched.
Against Idaho, Rikus de Villiers clinched the victory for the ‘Dogs at the No. 2 spot by beating Idaho’s Lachlan Reed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
In the win over the Wolf Pack, the ‘Dogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead when sophomore Remi Boutillier defeated the Wolf Pack’s Stephan Dimitrovic, 7-5, 6-2, and senior Tejesvi Veerepalli beat Alex Daruty, 6-2, 6-0. Nevada won three of the next four matches, forcing the doubles matches to break the stalemate. No. 36 de Villiers and Boutillier ousted Daruty and Dimitrovic, 8-2, at No. 1. At the No. 2 spot, No. 20 Mirko Zapletal and Taylor Leiby fell down 4-3, but fought back to clinch the match with their 8-5 victory over Laurent Garcin and Augustin Myard. Veerepalli and Siddharth Alapati finished the sweep of doubles with an 8-5 win over Wessim Derbel and Kristian Kuharszky.
NEVADA PICKS UP SECOND WAC WIN OF SEASON
Nevada earned its second WAC win of the season last Sunday when it swept Idaho. Due to weather, only singles matches were played. Wessim Derbel, Laurent Garcin and Alex Daruty picked up singles wins for the Wolf Pack. The other two singles matches did not finish.
FRESNO STATE REMAINS UNBEATEN WITH WIN OVER PACIFIC
Fresno State notched a 6-1 victory over No. 71 Pacific on Wednesday. After sweeping the doubles portion of the match, the Bulldogs won five of six singles matches. Rikus De Villiers clinched the match for Fresno State with his dramatic 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Ivan Castro-Garcia at the No. 2 spot, while 83rd-ranked David Ayoun notched a 6-2, 6-2 win over Karl-Erik Paaro at No. 5. Remi Boutillier, Tejesvi Veerepalli and Siddharth Alapati also recorded victories in singles action for the Bulldogs.
NM STATE DEFEATS NO. 58 TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
In its opening match of the spring season, New Mexico State defeated No. 58 Texas A&M Corpus Christi last Sunday. After dropping the No. 1 doubles match, the Aggies came back to take the doubles point by defeating TAMCC at Nos. 2 and 3. In singles play, NM State picked up wins at four of the five spots. The match at No. 4 singles did not finish.
UTAH STATE DROPS HEARTBREAKER TO NO. 53 UTAH
Utah State dropped a 4-3 match at No. 51 Utah last Saturday. The Aggies picked up the doubles point with wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. Nikita Ryashchenko and Alex Thatcher battled to an 8-6 win at No. 3, while Sven Poslusny and Amit Maharaj battled to defeat the Utes’ Timmy Allin and Artem Strunnikov, 9-7, at No. 2. In singles play, the Aggies picked up two wins, as Jakob Asplund battled through three sets to defeat Utah’s Phillip Eilers, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-0, at No. 1. At No. 2, Poslusny crushed the Utes’ Benito Surian, 6-2, 6-3. The match was decided at No. 6, where Ryashchenko fell in three sets to the Utes’ Stephen Jacobs, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Jan. 26 ITA team rankings, the WAC has three teams ranked in the top 50. Boise State leads the way at No. 21, followed by Hawai’i and Fresno State at Nos. 42 and 46, respectively.
Individually, the WAC has three singles players ranked in the top 100 of the Jan. 5 ITA individual rankings. Leading the way at No. 35 is Boise State’s James Meredith, followed by of Jim Brouleau of New Mexico State at No. 56. Rounding out the group is David Ayoun of Fresno State at No. 83.
In doubles, Fresno State’s Mirko Zapletal and Taylor Leiby are ranked No. 20, while teammates Rikus de Villiers and Remi Boutillier are No. 36. Idaho’s Alex Joitoiu and Lachlan Reed are No. 58.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN FRESNO
The 2010 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 29-May 2 in Fresno, Calif., where Hawai‘i will look for its third-straight crown. Last year, the Rainbow Warriors knocked off top-seeded Boise State, 4-2.