Fresno State seizes No. 3 seed in Mountain West Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– The Mountain West announced the bracket for the 2019 Men's Tennis Championships, held April 25-27 at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center at Fresno State, as announced by the league on Monday. The Bulldogs will compete as the No. 3 seed and open the tournament against the No. 6 seed, Nevada at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday.

The MW Championships start with four quarterfinal games on Thursday, with semifinal contests on Friday and the championship held on Saturday. The winner earns an automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

New Mexico earned the No. 1 seed, after wrapping up conference play with a perfect 7-0 record and the Lobos are 13-7 overall. Utah State locked up the No. 2 seed after finishing MW action 6-1.

Fresno State captured the No. 3 seed after posting a 5-2 conference record and are 15-10 overall. Zdenek Derkas, who has won 11 of his last 12 matches and has compiled a 23-9 record in singles, is undefeated in conference play and has earned six wins against nationally-ranked opponents. For the third consecutive year, the Bulldogs enter the championship as a fourth seed or better.

San Diego State enters as the No. 4 seed after compiling a 4-3 record in conference play and a 13-9 overall record. This marks the 14^th season the Aztecs have been a fifth seed or better.

UNLV will be the No. 5 seed with a 2-5 MW record and 13-8 overall record. Nevada, the No. 6 seed, finished the regular-season with a 2-5 MW record. The Wolf Pack and the Rebels finished with the same conference record, but UNLV won the regular-season head-to-head matchup, 4-1 on April 5.

The bracket ends with Boise State (11-9, 1-6 MW) as the No. 7 seed and Air Force (12-12, 1-6 MW) at the No. 8 seed. Boise State won the regular-season matchup, 4-1 on April 7 to edge out Air Force for the No. 7 seed.

No. 1 New Mexico and No. 8 Air Force will kick off the tournament in the first quarterfinal match on Thursday at 9 a.m. No. 4 San Diego State and No. 5 UNLV will follow at 12 p.m., while the matchup between No. 2 Utah State and No. 7 Air Force will start at 3 p.m. PT. No. 3 Fresno State and No. 6 Nevada will play at 6 p.m. PT to cap off the first day of competition.

The Conference seeds are determined according to conference finish. If a tie between two teams exists, then it goes to the head-to-head matchup with the winner getting the higher seed. A tie by three or more teams is broken using the team ITA rankings.

All seven matches of the 2019 Mountain West Men's Tennis Championship will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network. For complete coverage and statistics of the championship, visit Championship Central on the MW's official website.

Single session tickets for Thursday, Friday and Saturday are $10 for adults and $5 for children. All-session tickets/wristbands are $20 for adults and $10 for children. Tickets will begin being sold one hour prior to the start of competition each day. There will be free admission for Fresno State students.

"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" - The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.

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Fresno State Athletics

Fresno State seizes No. 3 seed in Mountain West Championship

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