Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Wave Invitational
Fresno State Starts Strong
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 25, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - Five Fresno State men's tennis players ushered in the 2009-10 season with a victory in their first match of the year at the Wave Invitational on Friday in Malibu, Calif.
The Bulldogs won five of their eight singles matches while paired up against Arizona players.
"It was nice today to finally be on the competition court," head coach Jay Udwadia said. "We've been practicing a lot and today we played some solid doubles and singles went well."
Fresno State's Remi Boutillier stood out for the Bulldogs as he notched a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Jason Zafiros.
"Remi has come back this year and playing really well and focused," Udwadia said.
Fresno State's Tejesvi Veerepalli knocked off Pat Metham, 6-4, 6-4. Also victorious for the Bulldogs were Taylor Leiby, Rikus de Villiers and freshman Sebastian Hafner, who picked up a win in his first collegiate match.
In doubles competition Fresno State faced Minnesota's combos and won three of the four doubles matches.
Boutillier and de Villiers knocked off the Gophers' Tobias Wernet and Sebastian Gallego, 8-5. The Bulldog tandems of Mirko Zapletal and Leiby and Veerepali and David Ayoun picked up wins on the afternoon also.
Friday was the first of a three-day tournament which invited four teams, including Fresno State, the Pac-10's Arizona, Minnesota of the Big Ten and the host school Pepperdine is the defending WCC Champion.
"Four really good teams are here -- some of best teams in country - it's going to be a good weekend to see how we're competing against some of the best players in the country," Udwadia said. "We're looking forward to getting a lot of match play this weekend."
Tomorrow the Bulldog doubles will be paired up against Pepperdine and in singles competition Fresno State will face Minnesota. All nine Bulldogs on the roster are expected to be in competition tomorrow.
Wave Invitational
Sept. 25, 2009 at Malibu, Calif.
Day One Doubles
Boutillier/de Villiers (FS) def. Wernet/Gallego (Minn), 8-5
Zapletal/Leiby (FS) def. Dehn/Bilankov (Minn), 8-4
Veerepalli/Ayoun (FS) def. Hadash/Sicora (Minn), 8-1
Ruddock/Arndt (Minn) def. Verdi Fortin/Alapati (FS), 8-4
Day One Singles
Jay Goldman (Ari) def. Mirko Zapletal (FS) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
Remi Boutillier (FS) def. Jason Zafiros (Ari), 6-1, 6-1
Rikus de Villiers (FS) def. Andres Carrasco (Ari) , 4-6, 6-3, 4-1 (40-0) default
Tejesvi Veerepalli (FS) def. Pat Metham (Ari), 6-4, 6-4
Ravid Hazi (Ari) def. David Ayoun (FS), 6-2, 6-4
Jeff Embry (Ari) def. Siddharth Alapati (FS), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
Taylor Leiby (FS) def. Alex Johnson (Ari), 6-4, 6-4
Sebastian Hafner (FS) def. Frank Chen (Ari), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
"We Are Your Team" - Come cheer on the Bulldogs as they host the Bulldog Classic on Oct. 2-4 at the Wathen Tennis Center. Competition starts at 9 p.m. each day. For all the up to date information on Fresno State men's tennis stay logged on to gobulldogs.com.
Players Mentioned
