Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
UC Irvine
No. 12 Bulldogs Breeze Past UC Irvine in Bakersfield
2/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 16, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - The Bulldogs have called themselves the Valley's team. A green "V" on Fresno State's logo represents its pride in the San Joaquin Valley, which runs from Sacramento in the north to Bakersfield in the south. Bakersfield, the hometown of junior Danon Beatty, was host to the 12th-ranked Fresno State women's tennis team on Saturday and the Bulldogs treated the south valley fans to a 6-1 defeat of UC Irivne at the Bakersfield Racquet Club.
"I want to thank the Bakersfield Racquet Club for giving us the opportunity to play here," said head coach Simon Thibodeau. "We had a good crowd and they were very supportive. It was a great atmosphere to promote our team and we played a really solid match today."
The Bulldogs played nearly perfect, winning the doubles point and five of six singles matches. Fresno State improved to 3-2 after the victory, while UC Irvine fell to 1-4.
No. 1-ranked Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe won their sixth-straight in dual matches, beating Bernhard and Fermin, 8-3. Gloria and Rowe improved to 18-2 overall and are undefeated in six dual matches. No. 29 Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova won, as well as senior Jacqueline Haskett and sophomore Vanessa Heroux at the No. 3 spot.
Fresno State breezed through singles, winning five matches in straight sets. Gloria, Petukhova, Kucerkova, Haskett and junior Bruna Paes were all winners.
"UC Irvine is good team and we played very clean and efficient," Thibodeau said. "We have a stretch of tough road matches coming up, so we really need to be prepared."
The Bulldogs will continue their long month of February on the road. Next weekend, the Bulldogs head to Las Vegas for three matches against Florida International, UNLV and Texas A&M. Then Fresno State then heads to Texas for three matches, before finally coming home on March 7 to play William and Mary.
Fresno State has now opened the season with three victories over top-45 opponents, including a 5-1 victory over No. 16 Clemson. The Bulldogs have four opponents remaining on the schedule that are currently in the top-25 and seven more that are in the top-45.
NCAA Women's Tennis
Bakersfield Racquet Club (Bakersfield, Calif.)
Feb. 16, 2008
No. 12 Fresno State def. No. 37 UC Irvine, 6-1
Doubles (Fresno State wins doubles point)A
1) No. 1 Gloria/Rowe (FS) def. Bernhard/Fermin (UCI), 8-4
2) No. 29 Kucerkova/Petukhova (FS) def. Agababian/Broadfoot (UCI), 8-3
3) Haskett/Heroux (FS) def. Borowicz/Kaloi (UCI), 8-3
Order of Completion: N/A
Singles
1) No. 39 Melanie Gloria (FS) def. Becky Bernhard (UCI), 6-3, 6-0
2) No. 11 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. Inna Agababian (UCI), 6-0, 6-2
3) No. 94 Renata Kucerkova (FS) def. Clare Fermin (UCI), 6-2, 6-0
4) Jessica Broadfoot (UCI) def. No. 43 Tinesta Rowe (FS), 6-4, 7-5
5) Jacqueline Haskett (FS) def. Ali Borowicz (UCI), 6-1, 6-1
6) Bruna Paes (FS) def. Heidi Kaloi (UCI), 6-4, 6-3
Order of Completion: N/A
Records: Fresno State (3-2); UC Irvine (1-4)
Players Mentioned
