Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
NCAA Doubles Tournament<BR>(Pandzic/Tallo 1st Round)
Pandzic/Tallo Advance on Upsetting Day of NCAA Doubles
5/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 25, 2004
ATHENS, Ga. - Fortunately for Jelena Pandzic and Lucia Tallo, they were not seeded in this year's NCAA Doubles bracket.
On a day that featured a record number of upsets, Fresno State's top duo of Pandzic and Tallo won their first round match 7-5, 6-3 over Harvard's Susanna Lingman at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
It was a hot and muggy Tuesday afternoon that sapped players' energy and denuded the draw of five of the top eight seeds, including all of the top four. One of the few seeded teams to advance were No. 8 Claire Carter and Dea Sumantri of Washington. They will be the second round opponent for Pandzic and Tallo on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT).
The victory was just the third time a Fresno State doubles team won a match at the NCAA Doubles Tournament and was the 16th in a row this season for Pandzic and Tallo. The duo is now 21-2 overall on the year.
But it was a victory that came with a struggle. After jumping out to a 4-2 lead in the first set, Fresno State's duo lost three consecutive games to fall behind 5-4. With Pandzic serving to stay in the set, she faced two set points but saved both. Pandzic and Tallo then broke Bergman's serve and Tallo followed with an easy hold to lay claim to the first set.
"The first set really could have gone either way," head coach Simon Thibodeau said. "We were down but it was very encouraging to see us hang in there and fight it out. I think that relaxed us a little and gave us some confidence."
In the second set, both teams held serve until 3-3, when Fresno State played a very solid game to break Bergman once again. Tallo followed by holding serve, and the Bulldogs closed it out when Lingman double faulted on match point.
Both players, as well as Thibodeau, were more than happy to survive a first round that claimed the tournament's second and fourth seeded teams.
"I think we played much better in the second set, especially from 3-3 in the second until the end. We started going after our shots a bit more aggressively, and that caused some errors in their game.
Pandzic and Tallo will be looking to make history in their next match. Not only would a victory make them both doubles All-Americans, but it would also be the farthest any Fresno State doubles team has advanced in an NCAA Doubles Tournament.
Notes:
Only one other Bulldog doubles team has won an NCAA Doubles Tournament match, that being Kim Niggemeyer and Simone Jardim -- now team's assistant coach -- who advanced into the second round in 2001 and '02 ... no Fresno State team has ever won a second round match ... temperatures are once again expected to climb into the 90's on Wednesday, with high humidity and wind ... Tuesday's upsets left just two seeded teams on Pandzic/Tallo's half of the draw, One of those seeded teams is their second round opponent -- Sumantri/Carter of Washington, the eight seeds.
