Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs Head to Malibu for ITA Regionals
10/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 16, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - Two weeks ago Rudolf Siwy well represented the Fresno State men's tennis team at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American in Tulsa, Okla. The junior from Czech Republic won three consecutive qualifying matches, earning a birth into the prestigious main draw. He even held his own against the No. 11-ranked player in the country and got two wins against ranked opponents during the week.
Siwy and the rest of the Bulldogs will head south for the highly-competitive ITA Regional Championships beginning on Oct. 17 at the University of Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif. Can Siwy repeat his magic in a very tough singles draw? Will sophomore Mirko Zapletal be a force to be reckoned with? Can the team perform well in doubles as it did during the Bulldog Classic?
The Bulldogs have had recent success at the regional championships. Last year at Stanford, head coach Jay Udwadia guided then-seniors Jakub Cech and Charles Irie to the quarterfinals, and Cech eventually won the regional title.
This season the Bulldogs will face opponents from the southern part of the region, including players from Arizona, Arizona State, Cal Poly, Hawai'i, LMU, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, USC, San Diego and San Diego State.
Siwy opens with a first round match against Ryan Mayer of UC Irvine. Zapletal faces Nick Berger of Cal Poly, while sophomore Tejesvi Veerepalli battles Bijan Hejazi of UC Santa Barbara.
Freshman Siddharth Alapati, winner of the Bulldog Classic Flight 3 singles tournament, gets a first-round matchup with UCLA's Chris Ho. Sophomore Flavio Mollinedo will also take on a UCLA opponent in Holden Seguso.
Sophomore Taylor Leiby faces Max Taylor of UC Santa Barbara in the first round, while freshman Denny Fafek battles UC Irvine's Zach Tsai.
ITA Regional Championships
Malibu, Calif.
Oct. 17-22
Singles - Round of 128
Flavio Mollinedo (FS) v. Holden Seguso (UCLA), 9 a.m.
Mirko Zapletal (FS) v. Nick Berger (CP), 9 a.m.
Tejesvi Veerepalli (FS) v. Bijan Hejazi (UCSB), 10:45 a.m.
Rudolf Siwy (FS) v. Ryan Mayer (UCI), 10:45 a.m.
Denny Fafek (FS) v. Zach Tsai (UCI), 11:30 a.m.
Taylor Leiby (FS) v. Max Taylor (UCSB), 11:30 a.m.
Siddharth Alapati (FS) v. Chris Ho (UCLA), 1 p.m.
Doubles - Round of 64
Alapati/Leiby (FS) v. Dalskov/Therp (UCSB), 2:30 p.m.
Veerepalli/Zapletal (FS) v. Quiroga/Schive (SD), 2:30 p.m.
Fafek/Siwy (FS) v. Barton/Hejazi (UCSB), 3:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
