Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs Primed for Cal Winter Invite
1/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Cal Winter Invitational Official Site
Jan. 21, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - Headline: Bulldogs Primed for Cal Winter Invite Teaser: Fresno State starts the spring with its final tournament of the year at the California Winter Invitational
No. 15 Fresno State will face strong competition against No. 3 California, Cal Poly and Saint Mary's, as it concludes the tournament portion of the season at the California Winter Invitational on Saturday and Sunday in Berkeley, Calif.
The tournament was originally scheduled for Friday also, but tournament officials decided to have all competition on Saturday and Sunday to likely rain storms in the area on Friday.
The 'Dogs are the defending eight-time WAC Champions and are coming off their fourth-straight Sweet 16 appearance. Senior Anastasia Petukhova is ranked No. 4 in the country and she and fellow senior Renata Kucekova were previously the No. 1 tennis team in college tennis.
Cal is coming off a national championship appearance in 2009 and are looking impressive early on with two players ranked in the Top 10. Sophomore Jana Juricova is No. 2, junior Marina Cossou is No. 10 and the Bears also have No. 83
The 'Dogs are 4-12 all time against Cal, but have won the last four meetings in the series, including a 4-3 victory in 2009.
Cal Poly also has a formidable team assembled this season.
Senior Suzie Matzenauer is ranked 98th for the Mustangs in singles competition. Cal Poly also has two doubles teams nationally ranked. Matzenauer teams with Amy Markhoff to form the No. 42 duo in the country and Steffi Wong and Brittany Blalock are ranked 56th.
The 'Dogs are 15-2 all time against the Mustangs.
Last season Fresno State picked up a 7-0 victory against Saint Mary's. The Gaels coaching staff features former-Bulldog Katharina Winterhalter. Fresno State holds an 8-0 advantage in the series rivalry.
"We Are Your Team" - The 'Dogs return home on Jan. 30 to host the qualifying round of the ITA National Team Indoors against No. 38 Ohio State. For all the up to date information on Fresno State men's tennis stay logged on to gobulldogs.com.
