MARCHANT NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State's Bryan Marchant and has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 14-20.
Marchant, a senior from Salt Lake City, Utah (Olympus HS), went undefeated in singles and doubles matches over the weekend, helping Utah State to a pair of victories over Portland State, 7-0, and WAC-foe Nevada, 5-2. Marchant was the aggressor in his singles matchup against Portland State's Roman Margoulis as he won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, on court No. 4. In doubles play, he paired with teammate Sven Poslusny to win a hard fought match against PSU's No. 1 duo of Chris Rice and Margoulis, 8-6. Marchant was just as impressive against WAC-opponent Nevada, as he and Poslusny claimed the No. 1 doubles victory over the Wolf Pack's Wessim Derbel and Quentin Mege, 8-3. In his toughest test, Marchant closed out his perfect weekend with a dramatic three set win over Nevada's Mege, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Other male nominees included: Damian Hume, Boise State; Wessim Derbel, Nevada.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 22 ITA rankings, five of the seven WAC teams are ranked in the top 75. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 31, Boise State comes in at No. 37, Hawai'i is at No. 43, New Mexico State is No. 56 and Utah State is ranked No. 71.
Individually, the WAC has three singles players ranked in the top 100. Arthur Surreaux of New Mexico State is the top-ranked WAC player at No. 75, Rikus de Villiers of Fresno State is next at No. 83, and Remi Boutillier of Fresno State comes in at No. 89.
In doubles, the WAC has two teams ranked in the top 75. Fresno State's pairing of Rikus de Villiers and Remi Boutillier are the No. 29 duo and Bryan Marchant and Sven Poslusny of Utah State are ranked at No. 65.
BOISE STATE DOWNS SAN DIEGO STATE
No. 36 ranked Boise State put an end to its four dual losing streak Feb. 15 as the Broncos knocked off No. 54 San Diego State, 5-2. Boise State secured the doubles point after taking two of the three matches, and Andrew Bettles clinched the dual win at No. 5 as he knocked off Tim Schulz van Endert, 6-1, 7-6 (3).
IDAHO CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Idaho improved to 9-2 on the season after recording its seventh win in its last eight matches with a victory over Gonzaga, 6-1, Feb. 16 in Spokane, Wash. The Vandals won the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches to take the doubles point, and dropped only the No. 1 singles spot after Marius Cirstea retired due to injury. Lachlan Reed and Alex Joitoiu each improved to 10-1 in singles on the year.
NEW MEXICO STATE MAKES IT FIVE IN A ROW
The Aggies came away with two victories over the weekend after defeating Northern Arizona, 6-1, and San Antonio, 5-2, in Las Cruces, N.M. The Aggies took the doubles point early against Northern Arizona and won five of the six singles matches. No. 75 ranked Arthur Surreaux, defeated Northern Arizona's Hugo Ramadier, 6-4, 6-3, in the No. 1 match.
The Aggies collected their fifth consecutive win after defeating San Anotonio. New Mexico State lost the doubles point to begin the match, but battled back to win five of six singles matches and claim victory.
NEVADA FALLS TWICE
The Wolf Pack dropped matches to BYU, 0-7, and WAC-rival Utah State, 2-5, over the weekend on a road trip in the state of Utah. Senior Kristian Kuharszky and junior Wessim Derbel both got singles victories for the Pack against Utah State. Derbel defeated Sven Poslusny in straight sets at the No. 1 position, 7-6, 6-2. Kuharszky defeated Fredrik Peterson at the No. 3 singles position, also in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
UTAH STATE GETS WAC VICTORY
Utah State defeated Portland State, 7-0, and WAC-rival Nevada, 5-2, over the weekend at home in Logan, Utah. In singles action, senior Bryan Marchant provided the drama of the match with Nevada as he was locked in a battle with the Pack's Quentin Mege. Marchant and Mege split the first and second sets, 6-3, 3-6, which led to a thrilling third set that was claimed by Marchant, 7-5.
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.