SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 28
Idaho at #72 Oregon, 9:00 a.m. PT
@Fresno State at #42 UC Irvine, 9:00 a.m. PT
Idaho vs. UMKC, 4:00 p.m. PT
@New Mexico State at #5 Baylor, TBA
Sunday, Jan. 29
Idaho at Portland, 10:00 a.m. PT
@Fresno State at #9 UCLA or #51 Alabama, TBA
@New Mexico State vs. #39 Rice or #44 Florida State
*WAC matchup
@ITA Kickoff Weekend
WAC MEN’S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Jan. 16-22)
Fresno State’s Francis Alcantara has been named Verizon Western Athletic
Conference Men’s a Tennis Athlete of the Week for the week of Jan.
16-22.
Alcantara, a sophomore from Cagayan de Oro City, Phillippines (Xavier
University High School), opened the season at home on Sunday with a
singles and doubles win against No. 12 Pepperdine. Alcantara defeated
Pepperdine’s No. 21 Sebastian Fanselow in three sets (7-5, 3-6, 6-4)
after failing behind in the second set of the match and dealing with a
mid-match postponement. His win injected energy into the rest of the
team and helped Fresno rally to even the dual against the Waves at 3-3.
Bad weather would again postpone the final match of the dual, and a
winner will be determined at a later date. Prior to his singles victory,
Alcantara, and partner Remi Boutillier, bested Pepperdine’s No. 1 duo
of Fanselow and Jenson Turner, 8-6, the only doubles win of the day for
the Bulldogs.
Other men’s nominees included: Idaho junior Abid Akbar … Nevada senior
Wessim Derbel … New Mexico State junior Luis Ramirez … Utah State junior
Sven Poslusny.
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Jan. 24 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 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.
FRESNO STATE
No. 35 Fresno State’s match with No. 12 Pepperdine was delayed, and ultimately postponed, due to rain ... the match ended with a 3-3 tie, with only the singles match of Fresno State’s No. 14 Remi Boutillier and No. 35 Finn Tearney left to finish ... their match sits at 5-7, 7-6, 5-3, and a winner will be determined at a later date ... sophomore Francis Alcantara, ranked No. 44, defeated No. 21 Sebastian Fanselow, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 ... this week, Fresno participates in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, facing No. 42 UC Irvine on Saturday, and then either No. 9 UCLA or No. 51 Alabama on Sunday.
IDAHO
The Vandals went 2-1 last week, defeating No. 75 Pacific and Seattle, falling only to No. 26 Seattle ... junior Abid Akbar went a combined 5-1 in singles and doubles on the week, with his only loss coming 6-4, 6-4 in a tightly contested match at No. 2 singles against No. 26 Washington ... Akbar and partner Cristobal Ramos Salazar won the only match in the UW dual with an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles ... this week, Idaho faces No. 72 Oregon and Missouri-Kansas City, in Eugene, Ore., on Friday, and visit University of Portland on Saturday.
NEVADA
Last week, Nevada sandwiched wins over UC Riverside (6-1) and No. 73 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-2) around losses to Loyola Marymount (5-2) and No. 56 New Mexico (4-3) ... Wessim Derbel won four singles matches at the No. 1 position, dropping only one set ... this week, the Wolf Pack are off ... Nevada is in action next at San Francisco on Feb. 2, before facing off against WAC foe Fresno State on Feb. 3.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State opened 2012 play this week with a conference win over Utah State (7-0) and a loss to No. 73 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-3) ... junior Luis Ramirez opened the year with a pair of straight-set victories at No. 4 singles, to go a perfect 2-0 and help NM State to a 1-1 record last week ... this week, the Aggies travel to Waco, Texas, for the ITA Kickoff Weekend ... NMSU will face No. 5 Baylor, on Friday, and then either No. 39 Rice or No. 44 Florida State, on Saturday.
UTAH STATE
The Aggies began the season 0-3, falling to Idaho State, No. 54 New Mexico State and No. 73 Texas A&M Corpus Christi ... this week, the Aggies are off ... Utah State will return to the court to host Portland State, on Feb. 2, and Portland State, on Feb. 4.