The Fresno State men’s tennis team pulled its first victory of the season Sunday, splitting back-to-back matches at the Wathen Tennis Center.

”‹For the Bulldogs, the day consisted of two opponents: Cal Poly in the morning and UC Riverside in the afternoon.

”‹Recently added to the roster were Felipe Fritz and Nikolas Papic, transfer players from Santiago, Chile. They have added an extra element to the team, first-year head coach Evan Austin said.

”‹“We don’t have depth, but we have a lot of guys that want to work hard and fight hard, and I think our expectations are to be in a lot of matches,” Austin said. “(In) a lot of close matches we won’t be able to count on one guy to win every time. It is going to be a group effort and everyone is going to have to pitch in on any given day to get us to four points.”

”‹The Bulldogs experienced a rocky round of doubles matches against the Cal Poly Mustangs early, losing the doubles match on court 1. They were able to recover with victories by Sam MacNeil and Jeremy Quinoz on court 2 (8-5), and Sai Kartik Nakireddi and Felipe Fritz on court 3 (8-6). That gave the Bulldogs the first point of the matchup.

”‹After that, it was all Cal Poly. The first singles matches to end was Cal Poly’s Jordan Bridge, who overtook MacNeil in two sets (6-2, 6-2), evening the overall score. After falling in the first set 6-1, Quiroz fought to stay in the match, but fell just short of winning the set, 6-4. On court 1, Reid deLaubenfels played a long, drawn-out battle with the Mustangs’ Andre Dome.

”‹After dropping the first set, deLaubenfels evened the match with a tiebreak win in the second set, but was unable to keep the momentum going in the third losing 3-6, 7-6 and 2-6. Fresno State’s fate was sealed on court 6 when Papic fell to Naveen Beasley, losing to the Mustangs by an overall score of 4-1.

“I really think Evan has instilled a lot of confidence in the team that is kind of rebuilding,” deLaubenfels said. “He trusts us to go out there and win at any position he puts us at.”

”‹After an hour-long break, the Bulldogs were back on the courts for the second match of the fair-weathered day against UC Riverside. They wasted no time in securing the doubles point with wins by deLaubenfels and Papic (8-3) and MacNeil and Quiroz (8-5).

”‹This time, the Bulldogs were able to carry the momentum through to the singles rounds. Papic was the first to finish his round against Kevin Griffin, winning both sets 6-3.

”‹MacNeil closed his match quickly, as well, against Calvin Ngo (6-1, 6-2).

”‹On court 1, deLaubenfels put his foot on the gas and didn’t let up, throttling UC Riverside’s Jimmy Roberts in two sets (6-2, 6-3) securing the victory for Fresno State, its first win of the season, and shutting out the competition 4-0.

”‹“The guys left it all on the court and this early in the season, our fitness isn’t really where it needs to be and our match toughness isn’t where it needs to be, so it’s nice to be able to come out here and get a win,” Austin said.

”‹The Bulldogs now set their sights on Georgia Tech, their opponent in the first round of the ITA Kick-off Weekend in Los Angeles on Friday. USC, ranked second in the nation, awaits the Bulldogs in the second round.

”‹“If we want to be a nationally ranked team, those are the types of teams we are going to have to go in and find ways to beat,” Austin said.