Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
NCAA Singles Tournament<BR>(Pandzic 1st Round)
Pandzic Gets Past Carlotti in NCAA Singles First Round
5/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 24, 2004
ATHENS, Ga. - Third-seeded Jelena Pandzic overcame a slow start and a familiar opponent to claim a 6-4, 7-5 victory over former Bulldog Chloe Carlotti in the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament, being played this week at the University of Georgia.
The win moves Pandzic into Tuesday's second round, where she will meet up with 41st-ranked Manon Kruse of Middle Tennessee State at 9 a.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
The match against Carlotti could best be described as surreal. Carlotti played at Fresno State from 2001-03 and was a two-time All-American. She participated as a Bulldog in a pair of fall tournaments but elected to transfer at the end of the semester.
But before she did, she and Pandzic - who sat out the fall while waiting to be declared eligible by the NCAA Clearinghouse - regularly practiced at Fresno State's Wathen Tennis Center. The two have been friends since they were 14 years old and hold the distinction of being the only two players in program history who have received All-America honors as freshmen.
The familiarity with Pandzic's style caused Carlotti to slightly alter her's. Instead of pounding groundstrokes as she is accustomed to doing, Carlotti played very methodically, taking the full allotment of time in between points and frequently lofting soft, high lobs deep to both corners of the court.
It was a game plan that paid dividends in the beginning. Carlotti bolted to a 3-0 lead as Pandzic struggled to find her rhythm, spraying forehands and backhands long.
But the Bulldog freshman, who at No. 3 received the highest seed in an NCAA Tournament for any Fresno State player in history, held serve, broke Carlotti and then held again to knot the score at 3-3. After Carlotti held serve to go ahead 4-3, Pandzic grip on the match tightened as she reeled off three consecutive games to claim the first set 6-4.
"I kind of struggled in the beginning," Pandzic said. "I think it was important for me to come back from 3-0 down and make it 3-3."
Despite losing the first set, Carlotti, who went just 13-13 this year after posting a 62-24 record in her two years at Fresno State, continued her deliberate style. The two players held serve until the fifth game, when Pandzic broke to go ahead 3-2.
The two continued to hold until Pandzic served for the match at 5-4, at which time Carlotti put together one of her best games of the contest and broke on her third break point. But that only seemed to anger Pandzic, who responded by winning the next eight points to claim victory on a warm and muggy southern day.
After the match, a sweat-soaked Pandzic couldn't help but bring up the odd site of seeing her one-time teammate on the other side of the net.
"We know each other's game so well because we practiced together in the fall," she said. "It was strange to play her.
Both Pandzic and head coach Simon Thibodeau were both quick to point out Carlotti's slow-down tactics were also very difficult to adapt to, especially after Pandzic had played three consecutive players who are considered big hitters.
"She was playing [with] more spin than the other girls do," Pandzic said. "It was hard to [hit] winners because she was moving so well. There weren't many chances."
"It was an emotional match for both players," Thibodeau said. "I think they were both nervous, and because they knew each other so well maybe we didn't see either player's best game. It was a good game plan for Chloe to mix it up, especially since Jelena has played so many big bangers lately. It was a good match to win."
Notes:
There were three first round upsets on Monday. Alphabetical seeds (9-16) Jackie Carleton (UCLA), Luana Magnani (USC), Agata Cioroch (Georgia) all went down ... all four seeded players in Pandzic's quarter of the draw are still alive ... despite her team playing against Georgia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Thursday, the match was Pandzic's first outdoors. The UGA-Fresno State matchup was shifted indoors due to a power outage ... Pandzic committed eight forehand errors, but only two in the second set ... both players used the same Babolat racquets ... Carlotti and Pandzic are also participating in the doubles tournament, which begins Tuesday ... the temperature of the match was 83 degrees, but the humidity made it feel much hotter than that ... Pandzic won only three points in the first three games, but won the last eight in a row to claim the victory ... the farthest any Fresno State player has ever advanced in the NCAA Singles Tournament is the third round, accomplished by Dora Djilianova in 1999.
