Men̢۪s Tennis
The Fresno State men̢۪s tennis team won the doubles point and took four of six in singles to beat Cal Poly, 5-2, in the season opener Sunday afternoon. Sophomores Tejesvi Veerepalli and Mirko Zapletal trailed 4-2 at the No. 1 spot in doubles, but rallied to win 8-5 and clinch the doubles point.
Sophomore Taylor Leiby and junior Rudolf Siwy also got a win in doubles. Playing at the No. 3 spot, Leiby and Siwy won 8-3.
In singles, Cal Poly took the lead 2-1 with wins at No. 4 and No. 5., but Veerepalli breezed through his second set to finish off Rob Foy for a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Veerepalli played at the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup for the first time in his career and delivered a straight-set win.
Zapletal then followed with a straight-set win over Andrew Gerst to pull the Bulldogs ahead for good. Siwy clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Joel Aherberg. Siwy, ranked No. 92 in the country, improved his singles record to 8-4 overall.
Women̢۪s Tennis
The Fresno State women̢۪s tennis team finished the final day of the Cal Winter Invitational with solid performances in both singles and doubles.
No. 1-ranked Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe went a perfect 3-0 this weekend after defeating No. 36 Babos and Kusano of Cal, 9-7.
Sophomores Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova (No. 29) also pulled out a close victory, defeating Cal̢۪s Cassou and Ilcinkas 9-8.
Gloria finished the weekend by beating No. 48 Maria Mizyuk of Nevada in straight sets. Gloria improved to 8-3 overall and moved into a tie for 11th all-time in Fresno State history for career singles wins with 66.
Petukhova, Kucerkova and Rowe also were straight set winners. Junior Bruna Paes won her second straight singles match, defeating Audrey Bardot of Nevada, 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Vanessa Heroux also got a singles win, beating Bobbie Englert of Cal in straight sets.
Rowe improved to 12-3 overall after finishing the weekend with three straight victories.
Softball
The 2008 Western Athletic Conference Pre-Season Softball poll was announced and Fresno State was selected to finish second behind the 2007 Regular Season Champion Hawaii.
Three Bulldogs, Haley Perkins, Jenna Cervantez and Nicole Angene were all named to the pre-season team.
Cervantez, a senior, second baseman from Clovis and Perkins, a junior third baseman from Fresno, were both first-team All-WAC selections and WAC All-Tournament selections in 2007.
Angene, a freshman, utility player from Norco, Calif., was a four-year letterwinner at Norco High School and also recruited by NCAA powerhouses Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma.