Fresno State Athletics
Men's Tennis Season in Review
8/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
One year after the Bulldogs suffered through one of the least successful seasons in history, question marks abounded heading into the 2002-03 campaign. Would Fresno State be able to rebound from a 7-16 campaign that included the program's first-ever opening round loss at the WAC Tournament? Did the Bulldogs have the talent to make a return to the NCAA Tournament following a one-year absence? And was this team capable of rising above the preseason ranking of No. 62 in the nation?
How pathetic those questions seem now, after Fresno State pieced together an 18-9 record, a strong run at the WAC title and won a match at the NCAA's. After starting the year with the low preseason ranking, the Bulldogs wound up 35th in the final team poll, one of the biggest improvements in the nation.
Signs of the jump up the rankings may have been apparent as early as the first dual match of the year. Taking on nationally-ranked UC Irvine on the road, Fresno State escaped with a 4-3 victory. On the surface, it was a solid victory in foreign territory. But considering the Bulldogs hadn't won a true road match since 2001, it was a major confidence builder that proved to be cause for a small celebration.
Following a loss to UCLA, the nation's top-ranked team, Fresno State once again foreshadowed its turnaround by narrowly falling 4-3 at No. 7-ranked USC, a place the Bulldogs have only won once in their history. After three matches, Fresno State was 1-2 but had a belief in itself after surviving an early tough road.
The team stuck its head above .500 after posting easy back-to-back home victories against Sacramento State and San Francisco. Road losses against top 10 teams Stanford and California followed, but like against USC, it was how the Bulldogs played in the defeats that spoke volumes about the improved competitive level of the 2002-03 squad. Fresno State fell to No. 4 California but played the Golden Bears tough, narrowly dropping the doubles point and a match at No. 3 singles in a 5-2 loss.
Standing at 3-4, Fresno State reeled off three home wins in a row over Loyola Marymount, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis. After splitting the following two matches, the Bulldogs absorbed one of their most disappointing setbacks of the year in a 4-3 loss to Brown at the Blue-Gray Classic. The Bulldogs did follow that up with a 4-1 win over Furman, and heading into the final match of the Blue-Gray, Fresno State's record was 8-6.
The team's quality season had perhaps its watershed moment on March 15 against Harvard in the final match of the Blue-Gray. Taking on the 30th-ranked team in the nation, Fresno State dug in its heels and battled the Crimson in a thrilling, and at times contentious, duel that came down to No. 6 singles. Sergiu Modoc and Jason Beren had the eyes of both teams upon them when, with Beren leading 3-2 in the third set, rain began to fall and rendered the court unplayable. With both teams having flights booked early the next morning, the match could not be made up immediately.
But with Harvard in Northern California for a road trip the ensuing week, both coaches agreed to complete things at Stanford University. The tension that enveloped the match when it started continued upon its resumption. In the end, Modoc pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3) victory, giving Fresno State the win.
Bolstered by the emotional victory over Harvard, the Bulldogs ripped off five wins in a row and were the owners of a sparkling 14-6 mark. The winning streak was halted with a 5-2 home loss ? Fresno State's lone setback of the year the Wathen Tennis Center ? to Pepperdine in the regular season finale. But heading into the postseason, the Bulldogs felt confident about their chances to compete for the league title.
Fresno State opened the WAC Tournament by blitzing Hawaii 4-0 in the first round. Then came a showdown with second-seeded SMU in the semifinals. The Bulldogs and Mustangs had played in the conference tournament three of the past four years, and each had been decided by a tiebreaker in the third set in the last match. Impossibly, the two teams did it again this year, with SMU squirming away with a 4-3 win when Alex Rudzinksi outdueled Marc Schaerer 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) for the win.
Now 17-8, Fresno State saw its successful season rewarded by the NCAA selection committee, which granted the Bulldogs with their ninth tournament bid in the last 10 years.
Fresno State traveled to Stanford University and played Arizona State in the first round, cruising past its Pac-10 opponent 4-2. But in the second round, the Bulldogs' season came to a close with a 4-0 loss to the tournament's No. 3 seed, Stanford.
Successes were plentiful for Fresno State over the course of the year. Stefan Suta repeated as the singles and doubles champion of the Wathen/Hancock Bulldog Classic. The junior eventually won 30 singles matches, joining an exclusive list that includes former greats Bryan Juinio (1996), Fredrik Giers (1996) and Peter Luczak (1999). Alex Krohn won 10 matches in a row to close the season. Four players won 20 matches.
In addition, Sergiu Modoc and Hector established themselves as one of the top doubles tandems in the nation. The duo picked up a top 20 ranking during the season and eventually were invited to play in the NCAA Doubles Tournament.
But perhaps most important is that Fresno State does not lose a single player off this year's team who played in the regular lineup. Given the improvement the team enjoyed in 2002-03, the Bulldogs could provide even more thrills in 2004.
Players Mentioned
