Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Harvard
No. 13 Bulldogs Take Down No. 24 Harvard 6-1
3/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 29, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. - On Saturday, Fresno State dangled on the precipice of losing on the home courts of No. 36-ranked Arizona, only to snatch away victory from the host Wildcats at the last minute.
On Monday, they didn't make things much easier.
Despite a score that indicates an easy afternoon, the 13th-ranked Bulldogs struggled through 100 degree temperatures and an unusual ruling at the beginning of singles matches to defeat No. 24 Harvard 6-1 in a neutral-site match at the Gene Autry Sports Complex in Tempe, Ariz.
The victory came two days after Fresno State (14-2) defeated Arizona 4-3 in Tucson when Vlatka Jovanovic came from match point down at No. 4 singles to clinch a win for the Bulldogs, who have now won eight in a row and 13 of their last 14.
"This is such a big win," interim head coach Simon Thibodeau. "With the heat and falling behind in all of our singles matches, it was really great to see the way we battled back to win. Each player dug deep today for the team."
Following a similar formula, the Bulldogs jumped ahead of Harvard 1-0 by winning the doubles point, something they have done in 25 of the last 27 matches in which doubles was played. At No. 1, the 44th-ranked duo of Jelena Pandzic of Lucia Tallo won their eighth in a row by brushing aside No. 19-ranked Courtney Bergman and Preethi Mukundan 8-3.
Another hot Bulldog doubles team, Lucia Sainz at Katharina Winterhalter, remained that way with a just-as-easy 8-1 win over Eva Wang and Alexis Martire. For Fresno State's No. 2 team, it was their eighth win in a row.
But the doubles proved to be the easy part. Following an arduous 9-8 (4) loss at No. 3 doubles, Vlatka Jovanovic - who due to an illness was sent to a local hospital until 3 a.m. on Monday morning - spent too much time recovering in the locker room afterward and arrived to her court four minutes late for her singles match. This caused each Bulldog to begin their singles match trailing 1-0.
None of the Fresno State players were able to recover in their first sets. But as each began its second set, the Bulldogs began to take control. After a victory for the Crimson (7-7) at No. 6, the first to change Harvard's wave of momentum was Lucia Sainz at No. 5. A day after having her six-match winning streak snapped, the sophomore spurred the Fresno State turnaround by defeating Cindy Chu 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
"Lucky Sainz's victory was really the key to the match," Thibodeau said. "Her win really got us going. Until then, there was a lot of negative energy going around. But Lucky started pumping her fists and getting us all believing we could win."
Ahead 2-1, Fresno State made the dual match score 3-1 and moved to the cusp of victory after the No. 17-ranked Pandzic took out 35th-ranked Bergman 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. Although she dropped only her second set of the entire season, Pandzic still managed to improve to 16-0.
The clincher came via Jovanovic, who nearly retired from her match in the second set due to fatigue brought on by her illness. Down 6-1, 4-1 at one point, the sophomore battled back from three match points down to claim the second set 7-5 before giving the Bulldogs the win when she cruised 6-1 in the third set.
That Jovanovic would play a three-setter should come as no surprise. She leads the team with 12 three-set matches, including six in a row.
Not long after that, Winterhalter, at No. 3, posted her eighth win in a row with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Alexis Martire. Just a sophomore, Winterhalter leads the Bulldogs with 22 overall wins and is 12-3 in dual matches.
The match was closed out by Lucia Tallo, who defeated Eva Wang 4-6, 7-6 (4), (10-8). A supertiebreaker was played at 2-2 in the third set because the match was already clinched.
"I had tears in my eyes when I was watching all of the players coming back in the third set," Thibodeau said. "We fought so hard to get back into the match, and to get a win is so gratifying for all of us. The players really earned this victory."
Next up for Fresno State is a match Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Idaho at the Wathen Tennis Center.
No. 13 Fresno State def. No. 24 Harvard, 6-1
Doubles(Fresno State wins point)
1) #44 Pandzic/Tallo (FS) def. #19 Bergman/Mukundan (Har), 8-3
2) Winterhalter/Sainz (FS) def. Wang/Matire (Har), 8-1
3) Anderson/Hyotte (Har) def. Jantz/Jovanovic (FS), 9-8 (4)
Order of completion: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1) #17 Jelena Pandzic (FS) def. #35 Courtney Bergman (Har), 5-7, 6-0, 6-2
2) #76 Lucia Tallo (FS) def. Eva Wang (Har), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 2-2 (10-8)
3) Katharina Winterhalter (FS) def. Alexis Martire (Har), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4) Vlatka Jovanovic (FS) def. Melissa Anderson (Har), 1-6, 7-5, 6-1*
5) Lucia Sainz (FS) def. Cindy Chu (Har), 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
6) Preethi Mukundan (Har) def. Courtney Jantz (FS), 6-2, 6-0
* Indicates clinching match
Order of completion: 6, 5, 1, 4, 3, 2
Records: Fresno State (14-2); Harvard (7-7)
