STAKNE NAMED PLAYER OF THE MONTH
New Mexico State's Matej Stakne has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Month for October.
Stakne, a junior from Rab, Croatia (Gymnasium HS), exceeded expectations by advancing to the semifinals at the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament that was held in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 20-24. Stakne won five consecutive matches en route to the semifinals with his most impressive win coming against No. 3 seed Yannick Weihs of Denver in the quarterfinals of the singles main draw. He came from behind to beat Weihs 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. Stakne was the only player not seeded in the top 25 left in the tournament by the round of 16. He was also the only WAC player to advance past the round of 16.
Other male nominees included: Filipp Pogostkin, Boise State; David Ayoun, Fresno State; Lachlan Reed, Idaho; Wessim Derbel, Nevada; Jakob Asplund, Utah State
BOISE STATE'S POGOSTKIN HAS NICE SHOWING
Boise State sophomore Filipp Pogostkin saw his run in singles competition come to an end as he fell in the round of 16 at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships held in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 20-24. Pogostkin, the No. 10 seed, lost to No. 3 seed Yannick Weihs of Denver 7-6, 6-0.
BULLDOGS DOUBLES TEAM REBOUNDS AT ALL AMERICAN
Fresno's doubles pairing of Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers rebounded to win the consolation bracket after a loss in the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships on Oct. 2-10. The pair won four straight rounds of matches, besting No. 38 ranked Cliff Marsland and Ashley Watling of Tulsa, 8-5 in the final round.
HAWAI'I'S LAJOLA LEADS THE WAY
Senior Dennis Lajola advanced to the round of 16 in singles as the No. 11 seed, but lost 6-1, 7-6 to No. 3 Chris Kearney of UC Irvine at the Southwest Regional Championships on Oct. 21-25. Lajola and partner David Schuster also fell in the round of 16 in doubles competition with an 8-5 loss to Clay Thompson and Daniel Kosakowski of UCLA.
IDAHO PERFORMS WELL IN TWO TOURNAMENTS
Senior Lachlan Reed claimed the Boise State Fall Classic championship in the A-Flight tournament. Reed, the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament beat Boise State's Filipp Pogostkin 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 to claim the title. Four Idaho men's tennis players advanced to the round of 32 at the ITA Mountain Regional: Reed, Alex Joitoiu, Abid Akbar and Marius Cirstea.
NEVADA'S DOUBLES TEAM BLOSSIMING
Wessim Derbel advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles A flight at the Bulldog Classic on Oct. 1-3. Derbel advanced to the finals of his doubles draw as well with teammate Quentin Mege. Derbel and Mege advanced to the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships on Oct. 20-24, before the rest of play was cancelled due to weather.
NM STATE'S STAKNE IMPRESSES AT REGIONALS
Junior Matej Stakne advanced to the semifinals of the singles main draw at the ITA Mountain Regional in Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 20-24. Stakne fell to No. 11 seed Enej Bonin of Denver 6-3, 6-7, 6-1. Stakne won five straight matches on his way to the semifinals match. Senior Arthur Surreaux joined Stakne in the quarterfinals. Both men were the only representatives of the Western Athletic Conference to advance to the quarterfinals.
UTAH STATE'S ASPLUND BATTLES AT UTAH INVITATIONAL
Senior Jakob Asplund captured second-place in the singles consolation flight at the Utah Invitational on Oct. 14-16. Asplund took second-place after defeating BYU's Roman Warias, 7-6, 3-6, 10-8.
WAC IN THE PRESEASON RANKINGS
The WAC has one singles player ranked in the 2009 preseason ITA rankings. Boise State's James Meredith garners the No. 40 spot in the 2010 preseason ITA rankings. There were no doubles teams in the WAC ranked by the ITA.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE
The 2010 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 29-May 1 in Boise, Idaho. Hawai'i, winners of three-straight WAC Tournament titles, defeated No. 2-seed Fresno State, 4-3 in last year's tournament.