DE VILLIERS NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Fresno State’s Rikus de Villiers has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week for April 4-10.
A senior from Durban, South Africa, de Villiers helped Fresno State to a perfect 3-0 mark in WAC play last week with wins over No. 56 Hawai‘i (5-2), No. 54 Idaho (4-3) and Utah State (4-0). At No. 1 singles, he went 2-1 on the week, including a come-from-behind win over No. 122 Dennis Lajola of Hawai‘i and a straight-sets win over Utah State’s Sven Poslusny. In doubles, he and partner Remi Boutillier defeated all three opponents and have now won eight of their last nine matches.
Other nominees included: Lachlan Reed, Idaho; Kristian Kuharszky, Nevada; Bryan Marchant, Utah State.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the April 12 ITA team rankings, three WAC teams are ranked in the top 75. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 39. Idaho comes in at No. 46, while Boise State is No. 52.
Individually, the WAC has four singles players ranked in the top 125. Arthur Surreaux of New Mexico State is the highest ranked WAC player at No. 64. Remi Boutillier of Fresno State is next at No. 94, followed by Damian Hume of Boise State at No. 120 and Marius Cirstea of Idaho at No. 123.
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. 17 duo, while Jim Brouleau and Surreaux of New Mexico State are No. 76 and Scott Sears and Hume of Boise State are ranked No. 82.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN BOISE
The 2011 WAC Men’s 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.