SKINNER NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Boise State’s Harry Skinner has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 1-7. This is his first-ever honor.
A senior from London, England, Skinner helped the Broncos to a 2-0 record last week in his debut at Boise State after transferring from Arizona State. He and doubles partner James Meredith started off the week with an 8-6 win over Utah State’s Jakob Asplund and Bryan Marchant in the No. 1 match, 8-6. He followed it up with a key come-from-behind win over the Aggies’ Sven Poslusny, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 2 position. In a 7-0 win over Weber State, Skinner teamed with Meredith at the No. 1 spot to beat Sascha Kiehne and Simon Unger, 8-7 (10-8). He also earned a straight-set singles victory at the No. 2 spot.
Other nominees included: Fresno State’s David Ayoun remained undefeated through the spring, picking up a pair of wins at No. 5 singles … Leo Rosenberg of Hawai’i went 3-0 at No. 4 singles and 1-2 at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles last week … Idaho’s Stanislav Glukhov went 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles play as Idaho went 2-1 on the week … Amit Maharaj of Utah State went 2-0 at No. 5 singles and 1-1 at No. 2 doubles last week.
FRESNO STATE TO COMPETE IN NATIONAL INDOORS SWEET 16
Fresno State will face No. 1 USC in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoors Sweet 16 in Charlottesville, Va., on Friday, Feb. 12. The Bulldogs are 7-1 on the season, having swept Santa Clara and San Francisco last Sunday.
BOISE STATE EDGES UTAH STATE
No. 29 Boise State earned a dramatic 4-3 win over Utah State with a third set victory in the final match against the Aggies last Saturday. After the Broncos took an early 2-0, Utah State notched wins at Nos. 4-6 singles. With the dual score tied 3-3, the final match playing out was Cristian Hodel and Bryan Marchant at the No. 3 spot. Marchant captured an early lead, winning the first set 7-6 (7-4). Hodel answered in the second set with a 7-5 win. After playing the first few games of the third set close, Hodel stole the momentum en route to the 6-3 win to give Boise State the victory.
HAWAI’I DEFEATS USF, FALLS TO STANFORD, CAL
Hawai’i picked up a win over San Francisco last Wednesday before dropping matches at No. 9 Stanford and No. 35 California. Leo Rosenberg went a perfect 3-0 in singles during the week to move his singles record to a perfect 7-0 in dual matches this season. Rosenberg defeated his first ranked opponent of the year, taking down No. 98 Bozhidar Katsarov of California.
IDAHO BEATS PORTLAND STATE, SEATTLE, FALLS TO OREGON
On a road trip to Eugene, Ore., Idaho defeated Portland State and Seattle, but fell 5-2 to Oregon last weekend. Stas Glukhov led the charge for the Vandals, going 3-0 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles action. The senior chalked up singles victories over Nico Bjerke of Oregon, Alex VanDerschelden of Portland State and Adam Strizich of Seattle. In doubles play, the Russian teamed up with Artem Kuznetsov to beat the teams of Erickson/VanDerschelden of Portland State and Boorkman/Strizichof Seattle.
NEW MEXICO STATE SPLITS IN LAS VEGAS
New Mexico State fell to UNLV 5-2 last Friday before rebounding with a 6-1 win over Southern Miss. Arthur Surreaux and Luis Ramirez earned singles wins for the Aggies vs. the Rebels. In the win over the Golden Eagles, NM State clinched the doubles point in the third position as Surreaux and Matej Stakne picked up a 8-6 victory. The Aggies dominated the singles match-ups, winning five of six positions.
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 Jan. 21. 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.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 4 ITA team rankings, the WAC has four teams ranked in the top 75. Fresno State leads the way at No. 26, followed by Boise State at No. 29, Hawai’i at No. 40 and New Mexico State at No. 68.
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.