BOUTILLIER NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Fresno State’s Remi Boutillier has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 8-14. This is the first honor of the season and second of his career.
A sophomore from Briancon, France, Boutillier had the best showing of any Bulldog at the ITA National Team Indoors Sweet 16 last weekend, where Fresno State faced No. 1 USC, No. 9 Stanford and No. 12 Illinois. At No. 4 singles, Boutillier defeated Stephen Hoh of Illinois 6-4, 6-2. In addition, he almost went to a third set against No. 78 Daniel Nguyen of USC and Richard Wire of Stanford, but neither match was completed. In doubles, he and Rikus de Villiers defeated Illinois’ Nevolo and Hamui, 8-5. The duo also led No. 1 Thatcher/Klahn of Stanford and Nguyen/Sundingg of USC, but both matches were called because the doubles point was clinched.
Other nominees included: Idaho’s Stanislav Glukhov helped lead the Vandals to an upset of No. 74 UNLV … Orlando Superlano of New Mexico State went 2-0 at No. 5 singles and 1-1 at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles last week.
FRESNO STATE COMPETES IN NATIONAL INDOORS SWEET 16
Fresno State gained invaluable court experience, as it faced three Top 15 programs as part of the ITA National Team Indoors Sweet 16 last week. The Bulldogs started the week by facing the No. 1 team in the country, USC, followed by No. 9 Stanford and No. 13 Illinois. Fresno State won the doubles point against Illinois and sophomore Remi Boutillier picked up a 6-4, 6-2 singles victory over Stephen Hoh of Illinois.
IDAHO DEFEATS NO. 74 UNLV
Idaho knocked off No. 74 UNLV 4-3 in Las Vegas last Friday. Idaho won the doubles point to go up 1-0. The Vandals then claimed victories at Nos. 4, (Stanislav Glukhov) 5 (Alex Joitoiu) and 6 (Alan Shin) to seal the win. It was Idaho’s first victory over a ranked team since April of 2006.
AGGIES GO 1-1 ON WEEK, DROP CLOSE MATCH TO NO. 23 ARIZONA
No. 73 New Mexico State went 1-1 last week, dropping an exciting 4-3 match at Arizona before defeating Cal Poly, 5-1. Against the Wildcats, NM State lost the doubles point and split the singles matches, with the Aggies winning the last three positions. Against Cal Poly, the Aggies secured the doubles point by winning in all three draws. At No. 1, Gustave Diep and Eduardo Salas topped Robert Foy and Matt Fawcett, 9-8. Doubles pair Jim Brouleau and Orlando Superlano clinched an 8-6 win and Aurthur Surreaux and Matej Stakne teamed up to defeat Drew Jacobs and Robert Zacks, 8-3. NM then dropped just one singles match-up at the third position with Surreaux taking it to a super tie breaker 7-6, 4-6 (10-8).
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. 12 ITA team rankings, the WAC has four teams ranked in the top 75. Boise State leads the way at No. 29, followed by Fresno State at No. 30, Hawai’i at No. 39 and New Mexico State at No. 73.
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.