Fresno State Athletics
No. 20 Men's Tennis Hits The Road
2/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 25, 2001
THIS WEEK
Thu., Mar. 1 --- at No. 38 Tulsa --- Tulsa, Oklahoma --- 2 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 3 --- at No. 20 Baylor --- Waco, Texas --- 1 p.m.
Sun., Mar. 4 --- at No. 12 SMU --- Dallas, Texas ---1 p.m.
NEXT WEEK
Sat., Mar. 10 --- UC Santa Barbara --- Fresno, Calif. --- 1 p.m.
Sun., Mar. 11 --- No. 13 Illinois --- Fresno, Calif. --- 12 p.m.
LAST WEEK
Wed., Feb. 21 --- at No. 23 USC --- Los Angeles, Calif. ---L, 5-2
Sat., Feb. 24 --- UC Irvine --- Fresno, Calif.--- ppd., rain
Sun., Feb. 25 --- No. 13 Texas --- Fresno, Calif. ---L, 4-3
Scouting No. 37 Tulsa (5-2): Prior to their road matches at North Carolina and Virginia Commonwealth over the weekend, the Golden Hurricane were 5-2. Tulsa recorded a 6-1 win against Dartmouth on Feb. 10, sweeping all six singles matches. The Golden Hurricane are led by junior Dane McGregor, who was named WAC Player of the Week for matches played during Feb. 5-11. Steve Timperley and Pavel Sebastyanski are the top doubles team for Tulsa. The Bulldogs are 2-1 against Tulsa overall, and won the last meeting 4-3 in 1999.
Scouting No. 21 Baylor (2-2): The Bears stood at 2-2 before entering weekend matches at Nebraksa and Colorado. Their most recent victory was a 4-3 edging of Tulane on Feb. 11, as Baylor won the doubles point after splitting singles play. The Bear's singles attack includes freshman Reiner Neurohr, senior Mark Williams and junior Csongor Bibza. The Bears will be looking to upend the Bulldogs after Fresno State claimed a narrow 4-3 win at home against Baylor last season. The victory was the only prior meeting in the series between the schools.
Scouting No. 12 SMU (5-0): The road trip concludes with a matchup against the Mustangs, who were 5-0 before an upcoming contest against South Alabama on Tuesday. SMU claimed a 6-0 victory over Boise State on Feb. 11, sweeping the singles matches. Jon Wallmark and Johan Brunston recently defeated Florian Marquardt and Frank Moser 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) to win the doubles championship of the Rolex National Indoor Championships in Dallas. The Bulldogs are 2-1 overall against the Mustangs, despite a 4-3 loss to SMU last season in the WAC Championship semifinal.
THE CHASE RESUMES
All-American senior Peter Luczak, who was awarded a No. 14 preseason singles ranking after finishing last season 32-14, needs only 20 singles wins to break the all-time mark of 105 held by Bryan Juinio. Luczak is 4-0 in the spring, and recently defeated Craig Edmondson of Texas 7-6, 6-0 in a No. 1 singles clash during Fresno State's 4-3 loss to the Longhorms on Feb. 25. Luczak, who has also been considered a contender for the NCAA singles title, sat out the fall season playing in satellite and challenger tournaments. The Melbourne, Australia, native has posted identical 32-14 records the last two seasons.
MENICHINI RISING TO THE OCCASION
Freshman Alex Menichini has been impressive for the Bulldogs so far this spring. The Calabasas, Calif., native improved his dual-match record to 4-0 and 8-4 overall with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jorge Haro of Texas at the No. 3 spot on Feb. 25. Menichini and fellow freshman Alex Krohn almost pulled out a doubles victory against Craig Edmondson and Alastair Jenkin of Texas, before losing 9-7 at the No. 3 spot. The duo was down 7-3 at one point in the match, and would have given the Bulldogs a match victory had their comeback not fell short.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Bulldog's home record since the dedication of the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center on Feb. 1, 1998, is worth noting. The Bulldogs have gone 33-3 at home since then, including a 28-match win streak entering last season's USC match. Even more impressively, Fresno State's home record dating back to the 1993-94 season is an incredible 70-5.
