SCHEDULE
Friday, Feb. 17
Nevada at Brigham Young, 4:30 p.m. MT
Saturday, Feb. 18
Nevada at Idaho State, 5:00 p.m. MT
Sunday, Feb. 19
#35 Fresno State at #17 Auburn, TBA
#66 Idaho at #73 Drake, 9:00 a.m. CT
Monday, Feb. 20
#35 Fresno State vs. #68 Clemson, TBA
#66 Idaho at Creighton, 12:00 p.m. CT
*WAC matchup
WAC IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the Feb. 7 ITA rankings, three of the six WAC teams are ranked in the top 75. Fresno State is the highest ranked WAC team at No. 33, New Mexico State is ranked at No. 53 and Idaho is ranked at No. 66.
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.
WAC MEN’S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Feb. 6-12)
Hawai’i’s Chas Okamoto has been named Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week for the week of Feb. 6-12.
Okamoto, a freshman from Kapaa, Oahu (Kapaa HS), picked up the lone win
for Hawai’i in its dual with Stanford last Tuesday. Okamoto defeated
Denis Lin in the No. 2 singles flight, 6-4, 6-1, 1-0 tiebreaker, as UH
fell 6-1 to the Cardinal, the ninth-ranked team in the nation. This is
the third time this year that Okamoto has earned a singles victory
against an opponent from a ranked team.
Other men’s nominees included: Fresno State senior Remi Boutillier … New
Mexico State junior Luis Ramirez … Utah State junior Sven Poslusny.
TEAM RECAPS
FRESNO STATE
Fresno State went 2-0 last week, defeating San Francisco, 5-2, on Feb. 8 and upsetting No. 9 Stanford, 4-3, on Tuesday. Both Remi Boutillier and Francis Alcantara scored singles wins over ranked opponents against Stanford, with Boutillier’s win in the No. 1 singles position clinching the victory for the Bulldogs in the final match of the day.
This week, Fresno State travels to Auburn, Ala., for two matches. The Bulldogs face No. 17 Auburn on Sunday and No. 68 Clemson on Monday.
HAWAI’I
Hawai’i went 0-1 last week, falling to No. 9 Stanford, 6-1. A a dual against No. 13 California cancelled due to weather. Chas Okamoto continued his stellar play with a 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 defeat of Denis Lin at two singles for the lone UH win of the match against Stanford.
Hawai’i will be off until March 1, when it hosts Michigan.
IDAHO
Idaho fell to #45 Boise State, 7-0, last Saturday.
This week, the Vandals take a trip to Nebraska for three duals, two of which are against ranked teams. Idaho faces No. 38 Nebraska on Saturday, No. 73 Drake on Sunday, and closes the trip with Crieghton on Monday.
NEVADA
Nevada was off last week. UN will travel for two duals this week, at Brigham Young on Friday and Idaho State on Sunday.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State fell twice last weekend, falling 7-0 to #53 New Mexico and 5-2 to South Alabama. Junior Luis Ramirez was one of two Aggies to win a singles point this week, as he defeated his USA opponent in three sets, on Friday, at the No. 3 singles spot, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
The Aggies will have almost a month off until competing again on March 8 against Air Force.
UTAH STATE
Utah State defeated Mesa State, 6-1, last Saturday. The Aggies swept the doubles portion of the day and lost only one match in singles play.
This week, the Aggies are off. USU returns to action on Feb. 22, hosting Weber State.