LAJOLA NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Hawai'i's Dennis Lajola has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 21-27.
Lajola, a senior from ('Aiea O'ahu, Hawai'i (Isabella Colleges), went 2-1 in both singles and doubles action during the week, as the Rainbow Warriors went 1-2 against three teams in the top 65. Against No. 52 San Diego State, Lajola defeated Giovanni Vaglietti in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 1 spot. He was pushed in his victory over Benjamin Recknagle of No. 65 UC Santa Barbara, taking the match after dropping the first set, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Lajola's only loss on the week came at the hands of No. 34 ranked Dean Jackson of No. 42 San Diego, 7-6 (8), 7-5. Partnered with Jonathan Brooklyn, Lajola also recorded victories in doubles matches against SDSU's Tim Schulz van Endert and Andre Feliz, 8-6, and UCSB's Evan Jurgensen and Philip Therp, 8-3.
Other male nominees included: Andy Bettles, Boise State; Remi Boutillier, Fresno State.
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 DROPS TWO, WINS ONE AT BLUE GRAY CLASSIC
No. 31 ranked Boise State lost matches to No. 22 Auburn, 1-4, and No. 46 Arizona, 2-4, , but managed to pull out a win against No. 69 Penn State, 5-2, during the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic last week.
Junior Damian Hume fought back from an early deficit against Penn State's Eddie Bourchier to secure a, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, win at No. 1.
FRESNO SPLITS MATCHES OVER THE WEEKEND
No. 31 Fresno State lost a close match to UNLV, 4-3, and beat No. 58 Arkansas, 4-0.
Fresno's No. 29 nationally ranked duo of Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers pushed Arkansas' top duo Matt Hogan and Matt Walters to a tiebreaker, pulling ahead to win 9-8 (5).
HAWAI'I WINS ONE, LOSES TWO IN CALIFORNIA
No. 43 Hawai'i began the week with a 5-2 victory over No. 54 San Diego State, but lost consecutive matches to San Diego, 0-7, and UCSB, 2-5, while in California.
In the Rainbow Warriors first win of the season, Senior Dennis Lajola proved dominant at the No. 1 court taking down SDSU's Giovanni Vagliett, 6-1, 6-0.
NEVADA FALLS TO UC DAVIS
The Nevada Wolf Pack lost to UC Davis, 2-5, Sunday in Davis, Calif. The Wolf Pack got singles victories at No. 1 singles from Wessim Derbel, and at No. 4 singles from Quentin Mege. Derbel defeated UC Davis' Nick Lopez, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, while Mege defeated Kyle Miller, 6-3, 6-0.
UTAH STATE LEAVES TEXAS WITH TWO WINS AND TWO DEFEATS
After a four-game road trip in the state of Texas, the Aggies recorded victories over Collin County CC, 6-1, and Seminole College, 6-1, but lost to SMU, 0-7, and UT Arlington, 2-5. Sven Poslusny and Byran Marchant lived up to their No. 61 ranking by winning their doubles matches against Collin County and Seminole. The duo improves to 10-4 at the No. 1 doubles slot.
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.