Fresno State Athletics
Women's Tennis Set to Begin Spring Season
1/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 12, 2012
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State women's tennis team heads to Berkeley, Calif. for the annual California Winter Invite, Jan. 13-15. This weekend the `Dogs will face some tough competition against No. 8 California, No. 41 Saint Mary's and No. 44 Cal Poly.
The format of the tournament is not a true dual match tournament. The `Dogs will compete in singles and doubles matches, but the results will only impact individual player rankings instead of the team's ranking. For a schedule of the weekend's match ups see below:
Friday, Jan. 13
10 a.m. Singles: Cal vs Cal Poly
12:15 p.m. Doubles: Cal vs FS, St. Mary's vs Cal Poly
2 PM Singles: St. Mary's vs FS
Saturday, Jan. 14
10 a.m. Singles: Cal vs FS
12:15 p.m. Doubles: Cal vs St. Mary's, Cal Poly vs FS
2 p.m. Singles: St. Mary's vs Cal Poly
Sunday, Jan. 15
10 a.m. Singles: Cal Poly vs FS
12:15 p.m. Doubles: Cal vs Cal Poly, FS vs St. Mary's
2 p.m. Singles: Cal vs St. Mary's
Bulldogs Ranked No. 66
In the ITA preseason poll released on Jan 3. the `Dogs were ranked No. 66 in the nation among Division I teams. This season they are set to play 14 teams that were ranked with them as the top 75 teams in the country, 10 of which were in the top 50 and two ranked in the top 10.
The `Dogs preseason ranking rose slightly from the end of the spring season where they were ranked No. 67, but they hope to climb significantly in the polls during the season.
Jodin Ranked No. 49 in Singles
In the ITA preseason poll, Marianne Jodoin was ranked No. 49 in the country for singles. She reached her highest ranking this fall of No. 42.
Jodoin was named the WAC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year last season. She was honored on the WAC All-Tournament team in singles and doubles, named first-team All-WAC in singles and doubles, named WAC Player of the Month for October this past fall and awarded WAC Player of the Week three times last spring.
Head coach Simon Thibodeau has high hopes that Jodoin will continue to rise in the polls.
"She's very mentally and physically strong," Thibodeau said. "Her opponents are going to have to fight for every point this season."
Olga Kirpicheva Concludes Fall on a High Note
Kirpicheva won both the top singles and doubles flights at the 2011 Women's Bulldog Tennis Classic, her only competition during the month of November. She won all four of her singles matches in straight sets, including a 6-3, 6-3 win over Washington's Capucine Gregorie to clam the singles championship. Then in doubles play, Kirpicheva teamed up with Laura Pola and the duo won four-straight matches to capture the title. Included in their run to the doubles championship was a 8-4 win over Nevada's Faith Bassiouny and Michelle Okhremchuk.
