Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
USC
No. 13 Bulldogs Upset No. 8 USC, Win Eighth Straight
3/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 21, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - Freshman Renata Kucerkova came up big for the 13th-ranked Bulldogs on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, beating No. 12 Sarah Fansler in three sets and clinching Fresno State's upset of No. 8 USC, 4-3. It was an entire team effort as the Bulldogs won their eighth straight match, winning the doubles point and three singles matches to secure the road victory. The Bulldogs improved to 10-2 with the win, while USC fell to 12-3.
"This is a very good win for our program," said head coach Simon Thibodeau. "USC is an extremely talented team, but we really believed in ourselves and played with a lot of confidence. There were many pressure moments and the team came through. They deserved to win."
The Bulldogs played with energy in doubles, which proved to be a very important point. Kucerkova and freshman Anastasia Petukhova lost at the No. 2 spot to DeVera and Fink, but Fresno State won the other two doubles matches to clinch the point. Sophomore Danon Beatty and freshman Vanessa Heroux were outstanding in an 8-4 defeat of Anastasiu and Fansler. Then in the deciding match, sophomores Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe saved several match points before eventually winning in the tiebreaker, 9-8 (9).
"We played very well in doubles which gave us the confidence we needed going into singles," Thibodeau said.
USC won three of the first four singles matches to take a 3-2 lead in the team score. After Dianne Matias beat Heroux on court No. 5, Petukhova won in straight sets at the No. 4 spot, beating Anca Anastasiu 6-1, 6-2.
Gloria was dominating once again at the No. 1 spot, beating eighth-ranked Lindsey Nelson 6-2, 6-2 and tying the team score 3-3. Gloria, ranked third in the nation, improved to 24-4 overall and 10-1 in dual matches.
Kucerkova led 4-0 in the third set before Fansler rallied to make it 4-3. But Kucerkova battled tough to take a 5-3 lead and then played a solid in the last game to win 6-3. Kucerkova improved to 20-7 overall and 9-3 in dual matches.
Gloria and Rowe improved to 4-2 at the No. 1 spot in doubles. The duo earned a No. 41 national ranking on Tuesday after defeating TCU's Cetnik and Sydorska (No. 6) and South Florida's Duch and Robinson (No. 37) last week.
The Bulldogs will host Kansas State on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Wathen Tennis Center.
NCAA Women's Tennis
March 21, 2007
Marks Stadium ~ Los Angeles
No. 13 Fresno State def. No. 8 USC, 4-3
Doubles (Fresno State wins doubles point)
1) No. 41 Gloria/Rowe (FS) def. Nelson/Smekodub (USC), 9-8 (11-9)
2) No. 59 DeVera/Fink (USC) def. #50 Kucerkova/Petukhova (FS), 8-4
3) Beatty/Heroux (FS) def. Anastasiu/Fansler (USC), 8-4
Order of completion: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1) No. 3 Melanie Gloria (FS) def. No. 8 Lindsey Nelson (USC), 6-2, 6-2
2) No. 71 Renata Kucerkova (FS) def. No. 12 Sarah Fansler (USC), 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
3) No. 117 Amanda Fink (USC) def. Tinesta Rowe (FS), 6-0, 6-0
4) No. 70 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. Anca Anastasiu (USC), 6-1, 6-2
5) No. 92 Dianne Matias (USC) def. Vanessa Heroux (FS), 6-1, 6-0
6) Julie Smekodub (USC) def. Danon Beatty (FS), 6-2, 6-0
Order of completion: 5, 4, 3, 6, 1, 2
Records: Fresno State (10-2); USC (12-3)
Players Mentioned
