|
Defending National Champs Highlight PacWest
Tennis Championships in Billings (March 7, 2003)
BILLINGS, MT – The 2003 Pacific
West Conference Tennis Championships will be hosted
by Montana State-Billings on April 10-12 in
Billings, Mont. The six school tournament will
feature both national championship teams from last
year as the BYU-Hawaii men’s and women’s teams will
begin their conference and national title defenses.
The Seasiders hosted the inaugural PacWest
Conference Tennis Championship in Laie, Hawaii last
year. BYUH captured the conference men’s and
women’s titles en route to regional and national
championships for both teams.
The Seasider women’s team is
currently unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation
after a challenging swing through Florida last
weekend. With a 9-0 win over No. 11 North Florida
on Saturday, the Seasiders improved to 27-0 this
season and stretched their consecutive match winning
streak to 56 matches. BYUH is led by last year’s
PacWest player of the year Adrienn Hegedus
(sophomore, Budapest, Hungary), who is the
top-ranked female player in the nation this year.
The Seasiders also feature No. 7 Judy Weng
(freshman, Taipei, Taiwan).
The Seasider men’s team is
ranked No. 2 in the nation and is 21-1 this season.
Their only defeat came last weekend in a 5-4 loss to
No. 3 West Florida. The Seasiders will also be
anchored by last season’s PacWest player of the
year, Jan Krejci (sophomore, Prague, Czech
Republic). Krejci is also currently the top-ranked
male player in the nation. He is joined by
returning all-conference player Peter Madarassy
(junior, Budapest, Hungary). Madarassy is the 12th-ranked
player and joins Krejci to comprise the nation’s top
doubles team.
The strongest challenge to the
Seasiders’ title defense will be rival Hawaii
Pacific. The Sea Warriors’ men’s team is ranked No.
6 in the nation after building a 10-2 record. Both
losses were at the hands of BYU-Hawaii, including a
narrow 5-4 defeat on March 25. HPU is led by Mikael
Maatta (junior, Lidkoping, Sweden), Blaz Jurjec
(senior, Loubljana, Slovenia) and Matey Pampulov
(sophomore, Dornbirn, Austria). All three were
All-PacWest selections last season as the Sea
Warriors placed second in the conference and
advanced to the regional tournament. Hawaii-Hilo
(4-7), Montana State-Billings (8-7), Western New
Mexico (6-7) and Chaminade (0-11) will also be
challenging BYUH and HPU.
The Hawaii Pacific women’s team
is ranked No. 14 in the nation and was also the
PacWest runner-up last year. Senior Loni Matsunaga
(Wahiawa, Hawaii) and junior Doriniso Holdarova (Fergana,
Russia) have been splitting time between No. 1 and
No. 2 singles. HPU had to replace its lone
all-conference selection from last year, Stephanie
Kovacic (Erhath, Germany).
Hawaii-Hilo’s women’s team will
try to challenge BYU-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific for
the conference’s top spot. The Vulcans are ranked
No. 22 in the nation and feature All-PacWest singles
player Nathalia Jung (senior, Porto Allegro,
Brazil). Montana State-Billings (7-8), Western New
Mexico (0-11) and Chaminade (0-14) will round out
the women’s field.
The PacWest Tennis
Championships will begin Thursday, April 10 with
matches scheduled to take place at Rose Park and the
MSU Billings Indoor Tennis Center. Tournament
seedings and pairings will be determined at a
coaches meeting on Wednesday night following a
tournament banquet. The tournament banquet will
begin at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday evening and is open to
all media.
Following are the scheduled
match times for the 2003 PacWest Tennis
Championships. Each match time will include one
match at Rose Park and one match at MSUB.
Thursday
Match #1 8:30 a.m. (#3 vs. #4)
Match #2 11:30 a.m. (#2 vs. #5)
Match #3 3:30 p.m. (#1 vs. #6)
Friday
Match #4 8:30 a.m. (Winner #1 vs. Winner #2)
Match #5 11:30 a.m. (Loser #1 vs. Loser #3)
March #6 3:30 p.m. (Winner #3 vs. Loser #2)
Saturday
Match #7 8:30 a.m. (Loser #6 vs. Loser #5)
Match #8 11:30 a.m. (Winner #6 vs. Loser #4)
Match #9 3:30 p.m. (Winner #6 vs. Winner #4)
– Championship Match
|
