SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Feb. 8
San Francisco at #35 Fresno State, 3:00 p.m. PT
#59 New Mexico at #53 New Mexico State, 1:00 p.m. MT
Friday, Feb. 10
South Alabama at #53 New Mexico State, 1:00 p.m. MT
Hawai’i at # 13 California
Saturday, Feb. 11
Mesa State at Utah State, 9:00 a.m. MT
#66 Idaho at # 45 Boise State, 7:00 p.m. MT
WAC MEN’S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (Jan. 30-Feb. 5)
Fresno State’s Remi Boutillier has been named Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 5.
Boutillier, a senior from Briancon, France (Externat Notre Dame), dominated last weekend by winning three singles and three doubles matches against No. 61 Saint Mary’s, Nevada and No. 48 Santa Clara. Against St. Mary’s, Boutillier, and partner Jean-Charles Diame, clinched the doubles point with 9-7 victory over the duo of Maxime Olivan and Joakim Nordstrom. In singles, he defeated Saint Mary’s Maxime Olivan in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Against Nevada, Boutillier, this time with partner Francis Alcantara, clinched the doubles point with a victory over Nevada’s Wessism Derbel and Fernando Sunago, 8-2. Boutillier then won his No. 1 singles match against Nevada’s 55th ranked Derbel, 6-4, 6-2. On Sunday, Boutillier and Alcantara started off the Bulldogs’ victory by defeating Santa Clara’s John Lambel and Ilya Osintsev, 8-4. In singles, Boutillier won the last match of the weekend, coming from behind to defeat Lambel, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Other men’s nominees included: Hawai’i sophomore Jared Spiker … Idaho junior Abid Akbar … Nevada senior Jordan Rozenfeld … New Mexico State junior Luis Ramirez ... Utah State freshman Marcus Fritz.
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.
TEAM RECAPS
FRESNO STATE
Fresno State went 3-0 last week, defeating two ranked teams, and a WAC foe, in the process. In the first half of a doubleheader on Friday, the Bulldogs downed No. 64 St. Mary’s, 7-0. FS then downed Nevada, 6-1, in the second dual of the day. On Sunday, the ‘Dogs topped No. 52 Santa Clara 5-2. Senior Remi Boutillier, ranked No. 14 in the nation, won all six matches in which he competed on the weekend, picking up three singles and three doubles victories. This week, Fresno State hosts San Francisco on Wednesday.
HAWAI’I
Hawai’i went 1-1 last weekend, defeating No. 65 St. Mary’s, 4-3, on Sunday, but fell to No. 9 Stanford, 1-6, on Tuesday. Sophomore Jared Spiker picked up a wins over St. Mary’s in both singles and doubles competition. Chas Okamoto continued his stellar play with a 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 defeat of Denis Lin at No. 2 singles, earning the lone UH win vs. Stanford. This week, UH concludes its California road trip with a dual against No. 13 Cal on Friday.
IDAHO
Idaho picked up a 4-3 win over Gonzaga last Friday. The win placed the Vandals over .500, at 4-3 on the year. Junior Abid Akbar went 1-0 at No. 2 singles, claiming a three-set win over Gonzaga’s Alvaro Nazal that helped Idaho seal its comeback after trailing 3-1 in the match. This week, Idaho travels to face rival Boise State on Friday.
NEVADA
Nevada went 1-1 last weekend, defeating San Francisco, 4-3, on Friday, and falling to WAC foe No. 35 Fresno State, 6-1, on Saturday. Senior Jordan Rozenfeld won both of his singles matches on the week, winning the only point for Nevada against Fresno State. This week, Nevada is off. The Wolf Pack return to action on Feb. 17 against Brigham Young.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State went undefeated in three matches in Las Vegas, Nev., last weekend. The Aggies downed Loyola Marymount (5-2) on Friday, UC Riverside (6-1) on Saturday, and No. 54 UNLV (6-1) on Sunday. Junior Luis Ramirez went 3-0 in both singles and No. 1 doubles last weekend in Las Vegas. This week, the Aggies host rival New Mexico, on Wednesday, and South Alabama, on Friday.
UTAH STATE
Utah State went 1-1 last week, beating Portland State, 6-1, on Friday, after falling to Montana State, 4-3, on Thursday. Freshman Marcus Fritz posted a pair of straight-set wins at the number three spot and teamed with junior Sven Poslusny for a pair of doubles wins at the number one position. This week, Utah State hosts Mesa State on Saturday.