MEGALE NAMED PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Boise State's Lauren Megale has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Month for October.
Megale, a senior from Boise, Idaho (Arizona State), capped off an impressive month with a semifinals appearance at the ITA Mountain Regional Championship held in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 20-24. Megale battled her way to the semi-final where she lost to No. 1 seeded Anastasia Putilina of Utah, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Megale and teammate Sonia Klamczynska also advanced to the round of eight in doubles competition at the regional championship. Megale recorded a 6-4 singles record to go along with a 5-2 doubles record over the month of October. Her four singles losses came against opponents ranked in the top-75.
Other female nominees included: Katarin Poljakova, Hawai'i; Marianne Jodoin, Fresno State; Lauren Simpson, Idaho; Michelle Okhremchuk, Nevada; Isabela Kulaif, New Mexico State; Chau Truong, San Jose State; Hailey Swensen, Utah State
BOISE STATE'S MEGALE SHINES AT REGIONALS
The Broncos began the month with the Jack Taylor Open, Oct. 1-3. The team finished the open with a 12-7 overall singles record, while also winning six of eight doubles matches. Senior Lauren Megale had a great showing at the ITA Mountain Regional Championship in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 13-17. Megale advanced all the way to the semifinals of the tournament, losing only to the No. 1 seeded player. She also made it to the round of 16 in the doubles bracket with partner Sonia Klamczynska.
FRESNO STATE'S FRESHMEN PERFORMING WELL
Freshman Abby Hayley advanced to the final round of the consolation bracket at the St. Mary's Invitational on Oct. 9-10. Hayley was defeated in the final round by Kelly Lamble from Santa Clara 6-2, 6-0. Freshman, Marianne Jodoin went into the ITA Regional located in Palo Alto, Calif., as the No. 12 seed on Oct. 22-25. Jodoin and fellow freshman Melissa McQueen both lost in the round of 32 in the singles bracket. Jodoin also had a nice showing in the doubles bracket as she and teammate Laura Pola advanced to the round of 16.
IDAHO'S DOUBLES TEAMS HAVE NICE MONTH
In their first meet of the month, the Boise State Fall Invitational, the Vandals saw singles player Basia Maciocha, and the doubles team of Victoria Lozano and Lauren Simpson go undefeated. Simpson also finished 3-1 in singles play in the tournament. The duo of Yvette Ly and Molly Knox claimed the doubles title at the GU/EWU Invitational on Oct. 1-3. Lozano and Simpson made had another nice showing in the biggest tournament of the fall season, the ITA Mountain Regional, as they advanced to the round of 16 before being ousted.
LOUISIANA TECH'S BARNARD, ZURECK WIN DOUBLES
Louisiana Tech juniors Elne Barnard and Anna Zureck won the doubles title at the UWF Fall Fling on Oct. 22-24 in Pensacola, Fla. The duo entered the tournament as the four seed and defeated IIona Serchenko and Ralista Pirdopska of McNeese State, 8-3. Barnard also led La. Tech in the SWA Invitational by advancing to the semifinals before losing to the eventual tournament champion, Elisha Gabb from Lee College 6-1, 6-2.
NEVADA FRESMAN SHOWS POTENTIAL
True freshman Michelle Okhremchuk surprised the entire field of the ITA Mountain Regional, by making it all the way to the semifinals only to lose to eventual tournament champion, Lucia Batta of UNLV. Okhremchuk and teammate Florence De Vrye also made it to the round of 16 in doubles competition.
NM STATE'S KULIAF SOLID FOR AGGIES
Senior Isabela Kulaif had the most success for the Aggies, advancing to the round of 16 at the ITA Mountain Regional. Kulaif defeated Yvette Ly of Idaho 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round, followed by a victory over Tori Arneson of Colorado State 7-5, 6-4. Kulaif finally fell to Edit Suhajda of Northern Arizona 6-2, 6-0. Kulaif and Annemieke Witte also advanced to the round of 16 in the doubles bracket.
SAN JOSE STATE PRESCOTT, TRUONG PLAY UP
San Jose State's Emily Prescott played her way to the consolation final, but came up just short at the Saint Mary's College Invitational on Oct. 10. She beat San Francisco's Xingyao Li 6-1, 7-6 (1), but lost to Gabri Verspieren of Gonzaga 7-6(4), 6-0, 1-0(10-6). Sophomore Chau Truong was the only player for SJSU in the ITA Northwest Regional. Truong collected two wins in the tournament, the most impressive over Molly McDevitt of Oregon 6-2, 6-2.
UTAH STATE'S SWENSEN HAS DOMINANT MONTH
Senior Hailey Swenson took first place in the singles flight at the USU Invitational held at the Utah State Oct. 1-2. Swenson defeated Weber State's Naseem Eslami 6-3, 6-2 in the final round. Swenson led the Aggies in singles competition with an impressive 10-3 record in October. Junior Julie Tukuafu had the best showing for the Aggies at the Mountain Reginoal as she advanced to the third round of the consolation singles flight, falling to New Mexico's Nikolina Grbac 6-0, 6-2.
WAC IN THE PRESEASON RANKINGS
In the 2010 preseason ITA rankings, the WAC has two doubles teams ranked. Leading the way at No. 48 is Boise State's Lauren Megale and Sonia Klamczynskz, followed by Laura Pola and Olga Kirpicheva of Fresno State at No. 52. There were no singles players from the WAC ranked by the ITA in the preseason.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE
The 2010 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 29-May 1 in Boise, Idaho. Top-seeded Boise State earned its first-ever WAC Women's Tennis Championship last season with a 4-3 win over No. 3-seed Fresno State in the title match. The Broncos' victory ended the Bulldogs streak of eight-straight titles.