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 March 14-20.
A senior from Brisbane, Australia, Reed improved to 12-1 in singles and 12-1 in doubles with two wins in both over the weekend. On Saturday, he defeated San Francisco’s Mark DeCastro (6-4, 4-6, 6-3) at No. 2 singles. In doubles, he teamed with Jose Bendeck to pick up a win at No. 2 doubles, 9-7. The following day, he led Idaho to its first win over Boise State since April of 1989, defeating Filipp Pogostkin at No. 2 singles in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. He and Bendeck also defeated the Broncos’ Jeff Mullen and Erik Sheldon at No. 2 doubles, 8-6. Reed has won 10 consecutive singles matches dating back to Jan. 28, when he fell at Oregon. The Vandals are off to their best start in program history at 11-2.
Other nominees included: Damian Hume, Boise State; and Luis Ramirez, New Mexico State.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the March 22 ITA team rankings, four WAC teams are ranked in the top 75. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 51, Idaho is No. 57, Boise State comes in at No. 61 and New Mexico State is No. 65.
Individually, the WAC has five singles players ranked in the top 125. Arthur Surreaux of New Mexico State is the highest ranked WAC player at No. 67. Remi Boutillier of Fresno State is next at No. 79, followed by Damian Hume of Boise State at No. 89, Leo Rosenberg of Hawai’i at No. 108 and Marius Cirstea of Idaho at No. 112.
In doubles, the WAC has three teams ranked in the top 75. Fresno State’s pairing of Rikus de Villiers and Boutillier are the No. 19 duo, while Jim Brouleau and Surreaux of New Mexico State are No. 58 and Scott Sears and Hume of Boise State are ranked No. 75.
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.