Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
South Alabama
No. 28 Women's Tennis Shocks South Alabama 4-3
3/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 13, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Any lingering questions about whether or not the Fresno State women's tennis team deserves a higher ranking were answered Tuesday afternoon.
The Bulldog's 4-3 upset of No. 14 South Alabama at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center is just one example.
No. 28 Fresno State (8-2) has now won six of its last seven matches and is continuing to make a statement at home. The Bulldogs remain undefeated at home this season and are 30-3 all-time at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center since its inception in 1998.
"I thought the girls just outfought them at the end of the match and this is just a great win over a very good team," said Bulldog head coach Kevin Epley.
The Jaguars collected the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. Fresno State's No. 1 doubles team of (#31) Simone Jardim and Kim Niggemeyer (13-2 overall, 8-1 dual) won their match 8-4 against South Alabama's Nienke Scheltens and Josien Boverhof.
The Bulldogs were victorious at four of the six singles spots. Fresno State jumped on the board early when freshman Courtney Jantz earned a default victory at No. 6 singles over Viktoria Stoklasova. Wins by Niggemeyer, Jardim, senior Liesl Fichtbauer sealed the victory for Fresno State.
"Fresno State's top three have been playing well all year, so I'm not too surprised with the result," explained South Alabama head coach Joey Scrivano, who added that his Jaguar squad has more depth in doubles.
(#24) Niggemeyer was able to grind out a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over Silvia Sosnakova at the No. 1 singles spot and (#44) Fichtbauer defeated Martina Ondrejkova at the No. 3 spot. Jardim lost the first set 3-6 to Iva Puflerova, who was forced to serve underhand throughout the match due to an injury, but stormed back to win the next two sets by identical 6-0 scores.
Fresno State will play No. 41 Iowa at home on Friday at 1 p.m.
Fresno State- 4
South Alabama- 3
Singles
No. 1 (#24) Kim Niggemeyer def. Silvia Sosnakova 7-6 (3), 6-2
No. 2 (#44) Liesl Fichtbauer def. Martina Ondrejkova 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 Simone Jardim def. Iva Puflerova 3-6, 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 Nienke Scheltens def. Ewa Grusiecka 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 Josien Boverhof def. Chantel Wiggins 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 Courtney Jantz def. Viktoria Stoklasova default
Doubles
No. 1 (#31) Jardim-Niggemeyer def. Boverhof-Scheltens 8-4
No. 2 Ondrejkova-Puflerova def. (#49) Fichtbauer-Jantz 8-5
No. 3 Sosnakova-Stoklasova def. Kelly Ramirez-Wiggins 8-3
