Fresno State Athletics
Men's Tennis to Face USD at NCAA Tourney
5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 1, 2012
FRESNO, Calif. - The 33rd-ranked Fresno State men's tennis team found out Tuesday where it is headed in this year's NCAA Tournament, as the NCAA announced the tournament field for the 2012 NCAA Tennis Championships. The Bulldogs are headed to Los Angeles to face the San Diego Toreros.
The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held on May 11-13. The Bulldogs will be playing at the Los Angeles Tennis Center along with No. 4 seed UCLA, who faces Eastern Kentucky in the first round.
"This is the culmination of all the hard work we've done all year and winning the WAC Championship," head coach Jay Udwadia said. "If you lose you're out, so I think that's motivation to keep on winning. I think we are going to crawl our way through and fight really hard.
"Hopefully we'll represent the school well and I'm proud of the guys who have done a marvelous job this year and we'd like to keep this rolling and maximize our opportunity."
The `Dogs (20-4) are making their third-straight and 13th overall NCAA Tournament appearance. In each of the last two years they won their first round match.
Last year, the `Dogs were paired against No. 19 Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and secured a 4-2 victory. For the second year in a row the team advanced into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but fell there to No. 15 California. The Bulldogs have not made it past the second round of the tournament since 1999 when they defeated USC.
Fresno State is coming off its second-straight WAC Tournament title with a 4-2 victory over Idaho last Sunday in Las Cruces, N.M. The Bulldogs were also named regular season WAC Champions for the second-straight season after a perfect 5-0 record over conference opponents.
Senior Remi Boutillier, who is ranked No. 26 nationally in singles, and sophomore Francis Alcantara, who is ranked No. 35, lead Fresno State into the tournament. The duo will likely receive individual bids to the NCAA Tournament in both singles and doubles. That will be announced on Wednesday.
Four members of the team were named All-WAC in singles this year. Boutillier, Jean-Charles Diame and Alcantara were named to the first team and David Ayoun was named second team. The `Dogs also had two doubles teams named All-WAC: Boutillier and Alcantara were named to the first team and Ayoun and Zachary Leslie were selected second team.
"We're all excited," Boutillier said. "It's going to be a battle. We haven't played San Diego this year, but we know most of their players, so I think it's going to be a tough match."
Boutillier has led the charge for the `Dogs this season and was named the WAC Player of the Year. He went 27-6 overall at the No. 1 position. Boutillier and Alcantara had a 15-9 record at the No. 1 doubles position this spring.
San Diego is currently ranked No. 25 nationally with a 17-8 record. The Toreros lost 4-1 to No. 7 Pepperdine in the finals of the West Coast Conference Championships. Fresno State fell 5-2 to Pepperdine at home on April 18.
USD is led by seniors Nikola Bubnic and Patrick Pohlmann, who are ranked No. 51 and No. 93, respectively, in the ITA singles rankings.
The last time Fresno State faced San Diego was on April 11, 2010 when the Bulldogs defeated the Toreros, 5-2.
"We just want to take it one match at a time," Boutillier said. "Our first step is to beat San Diego."
"Discover Fresno State Athletics!" The Bulldogs are headed to for the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The `Dogs face San Diego at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. You can stay up-to-date on all of the action by logging on to gobulldogs.com.
Players Mentioned
