Fresno State Athletics
Men's Tennis Will Host No. 8 Baylor
3/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 4, 2002
FRESNO, Calif. - In what promises to be the toughest home match of the season, Fresno State will play Baylor Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center. Baylor has an 8-0 record so far this season. Against the Bears the Bulldogs have a 1-1 record.
NICK FUSTAR GRABS A NO. 78 NATIONAL RANKING
After several impressive wins and a WAC Player of the Week award, Fustar takes a place among the nations greatest collegiate players.
EAST COAST COMPETITION FOR BULLDOGS LAST WEEKEND
Fresno State faced No. 44 Harvard on Saturday , losing 5-2. Hector Almada and Stefan Suta both won their singles matches. Almada, playing at the No. 2 position, defeated Brian Wan 6-4, 6-2. At the No. 3 spot, Suta took down George Turner 6-2, 6-4. Against No. 49 Brown, the Bulldogs fell 7-0.
TWO LOSSES ON THE ROAD FOR FRESNO STATE
Leaving the comforts of home, the Bulldogs headed to Texas where they faced Texas and SMU on Saturday and Sunday. Against the Longhorns, Fresno State fell 7-0. The following day they had, according to head coach Brad Dancer, an "inspired performance" and fell to SMU in a narrow 4-3 defeat. The Bulldogs took the doubles point and Nick Fustar battled it out against No. 55 Krystian Pfeiffer in three sets, losing 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. Fustar received a WAC Player of the Week nomination for his effort.
A 5-2 VICTORY FOR BULLDOGS AGAINST BYU
The Bulldogs persevered after losing the doubles point to take the match against BYU. Two doubles matches went to tie-breakers and five singles matches went to three sets. Nick Fustar came from behind with an impressive performance against Gert Vilms.
TOUGH COMPETITION LAST WEEK FOR THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs went on the road to face No. 18 California on Friday and No. 1 Stanford on Saturday. Fresno State fell 7-0 against Cal. The Bulldogs lost all three doubles sets, thus losing the doubles point. The Bulldogs also lost all of their singles matches. The Bulldogs record against Cal is 7-9.Against Stanford, Fresno State had a 6-1 loss, but won a match in both doubles and singles and took two singles matches to three sets. Greg Shearer beat out Phil Shemg at the No. 5 spot 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. The Bulldogs now have an 0-10 record against the Cardinal.
FUSTAR AWARDED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nick Fustar's upset over No. 13 Marcin Matkowski of UCLA has not gone unnoticed. The WAC named him as athlete of the week and Fustar also moved up to the No. 1 position in the Fresno State lineup. He continued his winning streak on Saturday against Cal Poly and Nevada. Against Cal Poly, he beat out Merenoff 6-1, 6-1 and defeated Nevada's Stoloff 6-1, 6-2. "Nick showed leadership today. He set the tone in singles and doubles. The rest of the team feeds off of his great attitude," said Dancer.
DOUBLE SWEEP FOR FRESNO STATE AT HOME OPENER
The Bulldogs definitely came through for the fans last weekend as they competed at home against Cal Poly and Nevada, winning all of their matches in the double-header. Hector Almada, playing at No. 3 in the lineup, came from behind at the end to take an exciting victory over Cal Poly's Marquez 6-4, 6-4. The only struggle for the Bulldogs in singles came at the No. 5 position. After Greg Shearer split the first two sets, he won the tie-breaker 10-8. Freshman Dustin Ilic had his collegiate home debut on Saturday and made a sucessful transition from high school to college. In singles, he defeated Cal Poly's Daniel Levy 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 6 position and McClure Wallace of Nevada 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 5 position. Against Cal Poly, the Bulldogs have a winning record, going 9-4 against the Mustangs. Fresno State has now gone 5-0 against Nevada.
