MACIOCHA NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Idaho’s Barbara Maciocha has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 1-7. This is her first-ever honor.
A junior from Szczecin, Poland, Maciocha was pivotal for the Vandals last week, going undefeated in both singles and doubles play as the team went 3-0 on the week. Playing at Nos. 4 and 5 singles, she picked up three straight-set wins, including the match-clincher against Eastern Washington. In doubles, Maciocha and partner Silvia Irimescu went 3-0 at Nos. 2 and 3.
Other nominees included: Boise State’s Pichittra Thongdach picked up two wins in the Broncos’ 5-2 victory over No. 60 Colorado … Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State remained undefeated in the spring by picking up a pair of wins against Saint Mary’s … Hawai’i’s Natasha Zorec went 1-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles as the Rainbow Wahine picked up their first win of the year … Maria Mizyuk of Nevada went 2-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles last week … San Jose State’s Chau Truong picked up wins at No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles in a win over Cal State Stanislaus.
PETUKHOVA CONTINUES WINNING WAYS
Fresno State fell 5-2 to Saint Mary’s last Thursday, but senior Anastasia Petukhova remained undefeated in the spring by dealing Alex Poorta a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 defeat at No. 1 singles. She also picked up a doubles win at the No. 1 spot with Renata Kucerkova, beating Poorta and her partner Claire Soper, 8-3.
BOISE STATE DEFEATS NO. 60 COLORADO
No. 38 Boise State earned its first win of the season over a ranked opponent Sunday, outlasting No. 60 Colorado, 5-2. The Broncos won the doubles point, then secured the victory with wins at Nos. 1, 4 and 5, highlighted by Pichittra Thongdach’s straight-sets wins over No. 64 Melisa Esposito at No. 1.
HAWAI’I EARNS FIRST WIN OF SEASON
Hawai’i began a four-match Southern California road swing with a 6-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton Sunday, its first win of the season. The Rainbow Wahine won all three doubles matches and five of the six singles courts for a dominating win. UH won despite playing without senior and top player Sophie Kobuch. Freshman Katarina Poljakova took Kobuch’s place at the No. 1 court and in her UH debut lost a tough 7-5, 7-6 (4) decision to Tiffany Mai. It would be the only setback that the Rainbow Wahine would suffer all day as UH went spotless in doubles action and got wins from Barbara Pinterova, Aglae Van den Bergh, Alyssa Nafarrete, Allison Gobel and Mari Tadaki in singles competition.
IDAHO PICKS UP THREE WINS ON WEEK
Idaho went 3-0 last week, defeating Lewis-Clark State, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga. Barbara Maciocha led the way for the Vandals, going undefeated in both singles and doubles. She also picked up the match-clinching victory in the team’s 4-3 win at Eastern Washington.
SAN JOSE STATE EDGES CAL STATE STANISLAUS
San Jose State defeated Cal State Stanislaus 4-3 on Sunday. The match came down to Jennifer Williams’ third set tie-breaker win at No. 6 singles. Williams and her opponent, Lexy Harrington, were deadlocked at 2-2 in the final set tie-breaker before Williams took five of the last six points to win it, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3). In doubles, Olivia Marshall and Chau Truong won 9-8 (3) at the No. 3 position to secure the point for the Spartans.
NEVADA DROPS MATCHES TO RANKED TEAMS
Nevada dropped a pair of matches to ranked teams last week, falling to No. 59 Sacramento State and No. 72 Oregon. The highlight of the weekend for the Wolf Pack was Maria Mizyuk, who went 2-0 at Nos. 1 and 2 singles and 1-1 at No. 1 doubles. Nevada was ranked No. 63.
NM STATE FALLS TO ARIZONA, SAN DIEGO
The Aggies dropped a pair of matches last week in Tucson, Ariz. NM State was swept by the host Wildcats and fell 5-2 to No. 45 San Diego. Manon Sylvain and Isabela Kulaif earned NM State’s only victory in doubles, winning 8-6 at the No. 2 spot vs. the Toreros. In singles, Ginet Pinero and Natalia Salum won their matches in the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively.
LA TECH SWEPT BY NORTHWESTERN STATE
Louisiana Tech was swept at home last Tuesday by Northwestern State. In singles action, Vivian ten Dolle had set point twice on her opponent, but was unable to pick up a victory as she lost 7-5, 6-2.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 4 ITA team rankings, Fresno State is ranked No. 29, while Boise State is No. 38 and Nevada came in at No. 68.
The Bulldogs’ Anastasia Petukhova is the lone WAC player ranked in the Jan. 5 ITA individual rankings at No. 4. In doubles, Boise State’s Lauren Megale and Pichittra Thongdach are ranked No. 24, while Florence De Vrye and Lais Ogata of Nevada are ranked No. 43.
PETUKHOVA UPSETS TOP-RANKED SINGLES PLAYER
Fresno State’s Anastasia Petukhova finished the fall portion of the season with a run to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. In the first round, she upset her best friend and the top-ranked player in the country, Maria Mosolova of Northwestern, 6-4, 7-5. The following day, Petukhova upset No. 17 Maria Sanchez of USC. The Trojan won the first set, 3-6, but Petukhova took the next two sets, 6-3, 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinals. In her second match of the day, she met Washington’s 58th-ranked Denise Dy, with the Husky picking up a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory. The victory over Sanchez was Petukhova’s fifth win of the season over a ranked opponent.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN FRESNO
The 2010 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 29-May 2 in Fresno, Calif. The Bulldogs, winners of eight-straight WAC Tournament titles, defeated No. 2-seed Boise State, 4-3, in a match that came down to the last point to claim last year’s title.