#16 Fresno State is the heavy favorite to repeat as
champions when the Western Athletic Conference tennis tournament opens Thursday
in Honolulu. Fresno State has won seven consecutive WAC titles, the last
three over Boise State.
The talented Bulldogs thumped the second-place Broncos 6-1
last weekend, giving them a huge mental advantage over the rest of the
field. #36 Boise State is 7-1 in the WAC and 21-3 overall but has been
playing a light schedule that obviously left them unprepared for the superior
Bulldogs. Nevertheless, the Lady Broncos are still the #2 seed and will
take on #7 seed Utah State in the first round Wednesday at 4 p.m. Mountain
time. Boise State shut out USU 7-0 earlier this season. Should Boise
State prevail as the favorite against the Aggies, they would likely meet
third-seed Nevada in the semifinals.
That too is a must-win for Boise State, not only to give
them a rematch against Fresno State in the WAC finals but also in a larger view
to help the Broncos take the WAC Commissioner's Cup away from Nevada.
Nevada is projected to win the Cup by over four points and a Pack win over the
Boise State women would just about cement the Cup for Nevada. The Broncos
downed #66 Nevada 5-2 earlier this season.
The Bulldogs have won ten straight matches and 16 of their
last 17, with the lone blemish being a 4-3 loss to #1 Northwestern. Fresno
State's only other losses were to #9 Georgia Tech, #11 UCLA, #12 Clemson and #15
Florida--that's it. The Bulldogs own wins over #8 California and #19
Vanderbilt. FSU has shut out every WAC team except Boise State and host
Hawai'i (whom they also beat 6-1).
Fresno features three of the nation's top 100 players--#19
Melanie Gloria, #28 Anastasia Petukhova and #89 Renata Kucerkova.
Gloria, a senior from Montreal, has a superb 33-11 singles record and is
30-7 in doubles, She won the Northwest Regional indoors single title, downing #7
Marina Cossou of California in the semifinals. Gloria was selected to the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American tournament, where she
reached the consolation semifinals. Gloria and partner Tinesta Rowe were
ranked #1 in the nation in the preseason. Rowe is 17-5 at #4 singles, the
position she'll likely play in the tournament.
Petukhova, a junior from Moscow, Russia, is 27-11 in
singles and (with Kucerkova) is a sparking 37-3 in doubles. All Petukhova
and Kucerkova have done is win the ITA National Indoor doubles championship and
the ITA Northwest Regional Championship and reached the finals of the ITA
All-American doubles championship. Kucerkova is a junior from the Czech
Republic, sporting a 26-7 mark in singles.
Laura Pola is 27-12, including a 17-6 record at #5
singles. Bruna Paes is Fresno's likely #6 singles player with a 9-1 record
at that position.
It will take a perfect effort from top to bottom to unseat
the seven-time defending WAC champions. Coach Mark Tichenor's Broncos
would score a huge upset if they pull it off. #83 Pichittra Thongdach, an
All-WAC player last season as a sophomore, is 24-8 this season and 29-4 in
doubles play. Freshman Lauren Megale is #118 in the nation with a
record of 32-7 in singles and 30-6 in doubles.
Vivian Silfany (19-6) is 13-2 at #3 singles for the
Broncos. Bianca Jochimsen is 7-6 at #4 (18-15 overall) and could play
there in the championships. Klaudia Wlodarczyk (26-12) is the likely #5
for Boise State, while Senior Jana Mackova (12-2 in singles and 13-3 in doubles)
or Laura Baum (21-4) gets the nod at #6 singles.
Caroline Bailey (17-14) is Nevada's top player.
Florence DeVrye (19-13) will go at #2 singles with Maria Mizyuk (13-5) at #3,
Caroline Stevens or Lais Ogate (at the 4 and 5 positions) and Aodhnait Lombard
likely at #6 singles..
Thursday's play-in game features #8-seed San Jose State and
#9-seed Louisiana Tech. Fresno is a perfect 8-0 in WAC play and
Tournament
Schedule (Mountain Time):
Thursday,
April 23 (First Rounds)
1 pm - #8
San Jose
State
vs. #9
Louisiana
Tech (Play-in match)
1 pm - #3
Nevada
vs. #6
Idaho
4 pm - #4
Hawaii
vs. #5
New Mexico
State
4 pm - #2
Boise
State
vs. #7
Utah
State
7 pm - #1
Fresno
State
vs. Winner of Play-in match
Friday,
April 24 (Semifinals)
4 pm –
Winner of Nevada/Idaho match vs. Winner of Boise State/Utah State match
7 pm –
Winner of Fresno State/Play-In Match Winner vs. Winner Hawaii/New Mexico State
match
Saturday,
April 25 (Finals)
4 pm –
Championship Match (Winners of Each Semifinal)