REED NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Idaho's Lachlan Reed has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Jan. 17-23.
Reed, a senior from Brisbane, Australia (Queensland), went undefeated during the week dropping only three games in his two singles victories playing at the No. 2 position. Reed also claimed two victories in doubles playing with partner Jose Bendeck. Reed and Bendeck defeated Chad Henninger and Kyle Koetje of Eastern Washington 8-6 and beat Tyler Orem and Oliver Sindayigaya of Lewis-Clark State College, 8-1. In his singles matches, Reed defeated Mario Novarro of Eastern Washington in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2. He also claimed a dominant victory over Cesar Uauy of Lewis-Clark State College, 6-1, 6-0.
Other male nominees included: Andy Bettles, Boise State; Jean-Charles Diame, Fresno State; Orlando Superlano, New Mexico State; Jakob Asplund, Utah State
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Jan. 25 ITA rankings, three of the seven WAC teams are ranked in the top 100, all in the top 50. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 27, Hawai'i comes in at No. 37 and Boise State is at No. 43.
Individually, the WAC has five singles players ranked in the top 100. Marius Cirstea of Idaho is the top-ranked WAC player at No. 56, Damian Hume of Boise State is next at No. 62, Remi Bourillier of Fresno state is ranked at No. 69, Arther Surreaux of New Mexico State comes in at No. 74 and Filipp Pogostkin of Boise State garners the No. 85 ranking.
In doubles, the WAC has two teams ranked in the top 50. Fresno State's pairing of Rikus de Villiers and Remi Bourillier are the No. 21 duo and Jim Brouleau and Arthur Surreaux of New Mexico State are ranked at No. 34.
BOISE STATE SPLITS OPENING PLAY WITH A DUAL WIN AND LOSS
The No. 43 Boise State Broncos earned its first win of the 2011 season on Jan. 22, with a 6-1 win over the University of the Pacific. No. 62 ranked Damian Hume scored the dual winning point at No. 1 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Pacific's Artem Gramma.
The Broncos dropped their first dual of the season with a 5-2 loss at No. 26 Washington in Seattle, Wash., on Jan. 23. Boise State managed just one doubles win and two singles victories against the Huskies to fall to 1-1 on the season.
FRESNO WINS FIRST MEET OF 2011
The No. 28 Fresno State Bulldogs made a statement with a 6-1 win in its first dual match of the season against USF on Jan. 23 in Fresno, Calif. The Bulldogs No. 21 ranked duo of Rikus de Villiers and Remi Boutillier did their part as they came away with an 8-4 victory over Thai Tu and Will Schumacher of the Dons. Boutillier and Villiers each won their singles matches in straight sets as well.
IDAHO CAPTURES TWO VICTORIES TO OPEN SEASON
The start to the Vandals 2011 season was very nice as they beat Eastern Washington 5-2, and Lewis-Clark State College 7-0, Jan. 22 in Cheney, Wash. Idaho won all three doubles matches against EWU, and got singles wins from No. 2 Lachlan Reed, No. 3 Alex Joitoiu, No. 5 Alan Shin and No. 6 Abid Akbar.
Idaho's 7-0 win over No. 18 (NAIA) LCSC was closer than it may appear. Marius Cirstea and Alex Joitiu were both pushed to three sets at the No. 1 and No. 3 singles positions, respectively.
NEW MEXICO STATE SPLITS DUAL MATCHES INCLUDING WAC LOSS
New Mexico State defeated Texas A&M-CC, 6-1, to open the 2011 season. The nationally ranked No. 34 senior Aggie duo of Jim Brouleau and Arthur Surreaux defeated Laurent Montoisy and James Langford of Texas A&M-CC, 9-8 in the first match, and the Aggies never look back.
New Mexico State University fell short losing 4-3 to WAC foe Utah State on Jan. 22 in Las Cruces, N.M. Some highlights were senior Jim Brouleau defeating Sven Poslusny of Utah State 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 1 position in singles and junior Matej Stakne defeating Fredrik Peterson 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 3 spot.
UTAH STATE GETS FIRST WAC VICTORY IN FOUR YEARS
The Aggies won their first game of WAC play in four years after defeating New Mexico State 4-3 in Las Cruces, N.M., on Jan. 22. Utah State captured the opening point in doubles play as sophomore Sven Poslusny and senior Bryan Marchant defeated the No. 34 ranked pairing of Arthur Surreaux and senior Jim Brouleau, 9-8. Utah State was led in singles play by Asplund, who was in the No. 2 spot for the Aggies and got a two-set victory over NMSU's Surreaux, 6-4, 6-4.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE
The 2011 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.