DENVER – Hawai`i’s Andreas Weber and Fresno State’s Renata Kucerkova have been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Players of the Week for April 19-25. This is the first honor of the season and second of his career for Weber and the first honor of the season and fourth of her career for Kucerkova.
A senior from Huenfeld, Germany, Weber picked up singles and doubles wins to help UH pick up a 6-1 win over Idaho to clinch a share of the WAC regular-season title and secure the top seed to the WAC Tournament. At No. 1 singles, he defeated Idaho's Artem Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-2. At No. 1 doubles, he teamed with Philipp Eberhard to defeat Abid Akbar and Adrian Simon, 8-6. Weber went a perfect 5-0 in singles in WAC play and has won six straight singles matches and eight of his last nine.
Kucerkova, a senior from Roznov, Czech Republic, picked up wins over ranked opponents in both singles and doubles last week, as the shorthanded Bulldogs almost upset No. 61 Cal Poly. At No. 1 singles, Kucerkova knocked off No. 100 Suzie Matzenauer, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. At No. 1 doubles, she teamed with Laura Pola to defeat No. 32 Brittany Blalock/Matzenauer, 8-3.
Other male nominees included: Nevada’s Laurent Garcin became the all-time singles wins leader at Nevada with 72 after he won a pair of singles matches at the No. 2 position last week … Amit Maharaj of Utah State went 1-0 at No. 4 singles and 1-0 at No. 2 doubles in a sweep of Idaho State.
Other female nominees included: Hawai`i’s Sophie Kobuch went 1-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-0 at No. 1 doubles to help Hawai`i pick up a 6-1 win over Hawai`i Pacific … Gabriela Niculescu of Idaho went 1-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-0 at No. 1 doubles as the Vandals defeated San Jose State to earn the No. 5 seed in this week’s WAC Tournament … Nevada’s Emma Verberne went 1-0 at No. 2 singles and 1-0 at No. 2 doubles in a win over Pacific last week ... Hailey Swenson of Utah State went 1-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-0 at No. 1 doubles in a win over Idaho State.