THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Jan. 18
Nevada at UC Riverside, 2:00 p.m. PT
Thursday, Jan. 19
Nevada at Loyola Marymount, 1:30 p.m. PT
Texas A&M Corpus Christi at New Mexico State, 11:00 a.m. MT
Friday, Jan. 20
Idaho at Washington, 5:00 p.m. PT
*Utah State at New Mexico State, 2:00 p.m. MT
Saturday, Jan. 21
Utah State vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 11:00 a.m. MT
San Francisco at Fresno State, 12:00 p.m. PT
Idaho at Pacific University, 12:00 p.m. PT
Nevada at New Mexico, 5:00 p.m. MT
Idaho at Seattle University, 5:00 p.m. PT
Sunday, Jan. 22
#Nevada vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 11:00 a.m. MT
Pepperdine at Fresno State, 1:00 p.m. PT
* WAC matchup
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Jan. 4 ITA rankings, three of the six WAC teams are ranked in the top 75. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 35, New Mexico State is ranked at No. 54 and Idaho is ranked at No. 57.
Individually, the WAC has three singles players ranked in the top 100. Remi Boutillier of Fresno State is the top-ranked WAC player at ranked at No. 14, while his teammate Francis Alcantara is No. 44. Wessim Derbel of Nevada garnered a ranking of No. 55.
In doubles, the lone WAC team ranked is Idaho’s Andrew Dobbs and Marius Cirstea, at No. 23.
TEAM RECAPS
FRESNO STATE
Fresno State begins the season ranked No. 35, looking to repeat as WAC Champions. The Bulldogs are led by senior Remi Boutillier, who is ranked No. 14 nationally, a huge improvement from the fall rankings, where he was listed as No. 47.
Fresno State starts the spring 2012 season at home against No. 67 San Francisco on Saturday, and then hosts No. 12 Pepperdine on Sunday.
HAWAI’I
The Rainbow Warriors kicked off their spring season with four matches on the islands, two against top-ranked opponents. Hawai’i first went up against No. 7 Kentucky in a flight play competition on Jan. 7-8, with UH claiming four singles matches and a doubles victory.
Last weekend, the ‘Bows hosted three matches in three days. First,UH faced Gonzaga onFriday, falling 5-2 to the Zags. No. 16 Mississippi State dispatched the Warriors 7-0 on Saturday. In the weekend finale on Sunday, UH narrowly fell to UC Santa Barbara 4-3.
The ‘Bows will have over two weeks off before they travel to California for a trio of matches. First up will be St. Mary’s on Feb. 5 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
IDAHO
Idaho, which checked into the ITA preseason rankings at No. 57, will begin the season in Seattle, Wash. for three matches in two days. The Vandals will go against No. 26 Washington on Friday. On Saturday, Idaho doubles up, facing No. 75 Pacific and Seattle University.
In addition to the team’s national ranking, Idaho junior Marius Cirstea earned a No. 19 regional ranking in singles, and along with doubles partner Andrew Dobbs, earned the No. 1 regional and No. 23 national ranking in doubles.
NEVADA
Nevada will open the dual season this week, taking on UC Riverside, on Wednesday, and Loyola Marymount, on Thursday. After a day off, Nevada will continue the first week of the dual season with a match against New Mexico on Saturday at 4 p.m. and a tilt against No. 73 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday at 11 a.m. Both matches will take place in Albuquerque, N.M.
Wessim Derbel, who will serve as the Pack’s captain for the second consecutive season, claimed a title at the Bulldog Classic this fall. Alongside that main draw victory, Victor Ouvrard won a consolation title at the same tournament. Derbel also made a run into the semi-finals of the ITA Regional Championships in Las Vegas. He finished the Fall with a 10-2 singles record.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State will begin the year ranked No. 54 in the first 2012 ITA Rankings. Last season, the Aggies finished the year at No. 50 in the final ITA rankings after advancing to the 2011 WAC Championship. As a result of their top-50 ranking last season, the Aggies will participate in the 2012 ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 28-29 against three other top-50 squads from a year ago.
NMSU begins the 2012 season by hosting No. 73 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday, before hosting WAC foe Utah State on Friday.
UTAH STATE
The Aggies opened 2012 with a 6-1 loss at Idaho State on Wednesday. Utah State’s lone win came from junior Sven Poslusny, who defeated ISU’s Charles Norman 6-1, 6-0.
Utah State will continue its road trip on Friday, travelling to face WAC foe New Mexcio State. Utah State will remain in Las Cruces on Saturday, playing No. 73 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES
The 2012 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 26-29 in Las Cruces, N.M. Fresno State will look to repeat as conference champs, after defeating New Mexico State 4-1 last season to claim the crown. Hawai’i had won the previous three WAC titles.