April 23, 2008
RUSTON, La. - The Louisiana Tech tennis team will take on the San Jose State Spartans in the play-in match of the 2008 Western Athletic Conference Championship on Thursday. The Lady Techsters and Spartans will take the court at 10 a.m. CST with the winner advancing to face top seeded Fresno State.
Tech (4-16) enters the tournament following at 5-2 win at Grambling State to close the regular season. The Techsters have had nearly two weeks to rest and prepare for the conference tournament, which coach Quintin Yray is hoping will work to their advantage.
"We played really well against Grambling with a hostile environment," Yray said. "Their fans were very energetic, and I hope we can ride that momentum and use the rest to continue playing well at the WAC Championships."
The Techsters will face a Spartan team that also won its regular season finale over Cal State Bakersfield. The win gave San Jose State (10-9) a winning record on the season. The Spartans enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed with Tech the No. 9.
The championship will last through Saturday in a single elimination format. Fresno State (17-7) are the top seed and ranked No. 19 in the nation. The Bulldogs defeated No. 37 Long Beach State, Cal Poly and Pacific in their final weekend of action before the tournament. The winner between Tech and San Jose State will face Fresno State at 4 p.m. CST.
Other action in the tournament will continue through Thursday with fourth seed New Mexico State taking on fifth seeded Hawaii at the same time as Tech and San Jose State. No. 3 seed Nevada will face Idaho as the sixth seed, and second seed Boise State will tangle with seventh seed Utah State.
The WAC boasts three women's teams ranked in the International Tennis Association's Top 75 with Fresno State leading at No. 19. Boise State (40) and Nevada (71) follow. Five individuals rank among the top 120 on ITA's rankings and four doubles tandems are ranked No. 54 or higher, including the third-ranked team of Tinesta Rowe and Melanie Gloria from Fresno State.
All matches will be played at the Aggie Tennis Center on campus at New Mexico State. Tickets are available in an all-sessions pass or a single session pass for $10 or $5 respectively for adults. Discounted prices are available for seniors and youths.
Fans can also follow the action live via New Mexico State's Web site www.nmstatesports.com.
