SEARS NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Boise State's Scott Sears has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for Jan. 31-Feb. 6.
Sears, a sophomore from London, England (St. Bedes), went undefeated in singles play and 1-1 in doubles on the week against No. 28 Virginia Tech and No. 30 Minnesota. In the Broncos' 4-3 loss to Virginia Tech on Feb. 5, Sears pulled through with a great doubles win at No. 1 as he and partner Damian Hume defeated Will Beck and Pedro Graber, 8-7 (1). Sears did his best to put the Broncos in position to take the match with a win at No. 3 singles, as he fought back from an early deficit to beat Graber, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Sears earned his second singles victory on the weekend in Boise State's 5-2 loss to Minnesota on Feb 6., defeating Tobias Wernet, 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 3 to help secure the second and final point for the Broncos in the match.
Other male nominees included: Francis Alcantara, Fresno State; Alex Joitoiu, Idaho; Alex Thatcher, Utah State
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 8 ITA rankings, three of the seven WAC teams are ranked in the top 50. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 30, Boise State comes in at No. 35 and Hawai'i is at No. 42.
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 LOSES TO NO. 28, NO. 30 RANKED TEAMS
The Broncos lost to No. 28 Virginia Tech, 3-4, and to No. 30 Minnesota, 2-5, over the weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. Sophomore Scott Sears stood out for Boise State as he claimed the WAC Athlete of the Week award for his performances. Sears went 2-0 in singles at No. 3 with his toughest win coming against Minnesota's Tobias Wernet, 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8).
FRESNO STATE SPLITS WEEKEND MATCHES
The Bulldogs split matches over the weekend as they defeated No. 50 San Diego State, 6-1, but lost to No. 15 Texas Tech, 1-6. The Bulldogs' No. 21 ranked doubles team of Rikus de Villiers and Remi Boutillier pulled out a nice tie-breaker victory over SDSU's Giovanni Vaglietti and Hunter Nicholas, 9-8 (5).
IDAHO WINS THREE, RECORD 7-1 TO START SEASON
The Vandals dominated two of their matches on the weekend as they defeated both UC Davis and Seattle, 7-0, but were challenged by Portland, as Idaho pulled away with a close 4-3 decision. Against Portland, the Vandals got singles wins from Lachlan Reed at No. 2, Alex Joitoiu No. 3, and Alan Shin at the No. 4 positions, and earned the doubles point with wins at all three spots.
NEVADA DOWNS UMKC, LOSES TO UC IRVINE
The Wolf Pack suffered a 7-0 defeat to UC Irvine, but turned things around as they downed the University of Missouri Kansas City, 6-1, to put their record at 2-2 this season.
NEW MEXICO STATE DROPS TWO, WINS ONE IN LAS VEGAS
The Aggies dropped their first two matches to host school Las Vegas, 2-5, and Cal Poly, 2-5, before finally grabbing a win against Southern Miss., 6-1, over the weekend. In the victory over Southern Miss., sophomore Orlando Superlano was able to improve his singles record to 5-1 on the season as he defeated Jan Burmeister, 6-7, 6-4, (10-7), in the No. 3 match.
UTAH STATE SWEEPS HOMESTAND
The Aggies swept their homestand over the weekend with victories over Mesa State, 7-0, and Montana State, 5-2. Utah State's record improves to 5-2 on the season, having won its last five matches. Against Mesa State, each player for the Aggies won in straight-sets in singles action. Senior Alex Thatcher highlighted the victory over Montana State as he bested Alexander Jewett in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
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.