The Fresno State women’s tennis team, which concluded a whirlwind season of sweeps and win streaks and road losses this weekend, will enter the April 25-28 Mountain West Conference Women’s Tennis Championship as the third seed.
The Bulldogs, ranked 55th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, will play sixth seeded Wyoming in the quarterfinals Friday at 1 p.m.
Fresno State beat Wyoming 4-3 in thrilling fashion this season. Rana Sherif Ahmed, who played at the top of the Bulldogs’ singles ladder for most of the season, clinched the match for Fresno State in three sets in a deciding game on Court 1.
The Bulldogs finished 14-7 overall and 7-2 in conference play under first-year Fresno State coach Ryan Stotland.
“We finished 14-7 this year, and I am very proud of the girls,” Stotland said. “Our seven losses were to very good, ranked teams. We ended the regular season on a high. We’ve had a great, great year so far and we don’t want it to stop.”
Fresno State finished the regular season in dominating fashion.
The No. 55 Bulldogs beat New Mexico 6-1 on the road on Sunday, winning all three doubles matches.
Sophie Watts, Melissa McQueen, Bianca Modoc, Olga Kirpicheva and Anneka Watts all won their singles matches against the Lobos.
Mountain West regular-season champion San Diego State enters the tournament as the top seed. The No. 41 Aztecs finished conference play 8-0.
After starting off the season against tough nonconference competition — losses to No. 7 Cal, No. 4 USC, No. Arizona and No. 29 Arizona State — Fresno State turned its season around and finished on a 10-3 run.
“We are looking forward to the conference championships and showing everyone what we’ve got,” Stotland said. “Our goal is to prove to everyone how good we are and show them how we are starting to peak now and we don’t want our season to end.
“Winning a conference championship has been our goal since Day One, and I know our girls are ready to do it.”