BARNARD NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Louisiana Tech's Elne Barnard has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 7-13.
Barnard, a junior from Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Spier Tennis Academy), helped the Lady Techsters go 2-1 during the week with victories over Southern, 4-3, and Central Arkansas, 6-1. Barnard went 2-1 in singles at the No. 1 position with victories over Southern's Carlista Mohammed, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, and Central Arkansas' Simona Horsikyan, 7-5, 6-3. In doubles action, Barnard paired with teammate Anna Zureck to defeat Central Arkansas' duo of Lisa Mainz and Allison Harman, 8-1, as well as Stephen F. Austin's pair of Alina Shazhko and Paola Montuenga, 8-7 (7-0).
Other female nominees included: Elyse Edwards, Boise State; Alyssa Nafarrete, Hawai'i.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 14 ITA rankings, two WAC teams were ranked in the top 75. Boise State comes in at No. 44, while Fresno State is at No. 62 after previously being unranked.
Fresno State and Hawai'i each have one singles player ranked in the top 100. Katarina Poljakova of the Rainbow Wahine garners the No. 94 ranking, and Marianne Jodoin comes in at No. 99 for the Bulldogs.
There are currently no doubles teams in the WAC ranked in the top 100.
BOISE STATE UPSET BY UTAH
The No. 38 ranked Boise State Broncos suffered its first upset loss of the 2011 season Feb. 12, as the Broncos fell to No. 47 Utah, 5-2, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Broncos took the lead early in the match as they secured the doubles point, but were only able to win one singles match as Elyse Edwards defeated Utah's Lexi Provancha at No. 5, 6-3, 7-5.
HAWAI'I DROPS TWO IN CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP
The Rainbow Wahine suffered losses to Long Beach State and Pepperdine during the week. Pepperdine defeated Hawai'i, 4-3, in a tough match on Feb. 8 in Malibu, Calif. All singles matches were split with the final point coming down to Pepperdine's Jackie Owens out-lasting Hawai'i's Mari Tadaki, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) at the No. 6 position.
Hawai'i lost its match to Long Beach State, 1-6, as Alyssa Nafarrete claimed the Rainbow Wahine's sole point in the No. 5 position with a, 6-4, 6-4, win against Sarah Cantlay.
LA. TECH GETS FIRST TWO WINS OF SEASON
The Lady Techsters claimed wins against Southern, 4-3, and Central Arkansas, 6-1, along with a loss to Stephen F. Austin, 2-5, over the weekend. Junior Elne Barnard was the difference maker for La. Tech as she went 2-1 in singles and 2-1 in doubles at the No. 1 position in the three matches. Her most dominating singles victory came over Central Arkansas' Simona Horsikyan, 7-5, 6-3.
NEVADA LOSES TWO IN CALIFORNIA
The Wolf Pack dropped matches to UC Irvine, 3-4, and Long Beach State, 0-7, over the weekend while road tripping in California. Nevada fell in the final singles contest against UC Irvine as Mickelle Okhremchuk lost to UCI's Courtney Byron 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
NEW MEXICO STATE WINS TWO, INCLUDING RIVALRY VICTORY
The Aggies came up big over the weekend as they defeated in-state rival New Mexico, 4-3, and Montana State, 6-1, at home in Las Cruces, N.M. Against the Lobos, the Aggies relied on the bottom half of the order for the singles wins as they took the No. 4, 5 and 6 matches, along with the doubles point to claim victory. Ros-Polly Nguyen had the most impressive win as she swept UNM's Michaela Oldani in the No. 5 match, 6-4, 6-3.
New Mexico State dominated Montana State in almost every aspect of the matchup, winning all three doubles matches and winning five of the six singles matches.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE
The 2011 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 27-May 1 in Boise, Idaho.
Top-seeded Boise State earned its first-ever WAC Women's Tennis Championship last season with a 4-3 win over No. 3-seed Fresno State in the title match. The Broncos' victory ended the Bulldogs streak of eight-straight titles.