Last weekend, the Fresno State men’s tennis team made history by winning its first Mountain West (MW) Championship in program history, defeating No. 4 San Diego State 4-2 at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, defeating No. 6 Nevada 4-0 in the quarterfinals and upsetting No. 2 Utah State, whom the Bulldogs lost to earlier in the month, 4-2 in the semifinals to make it to the championship match.
The journey for head coach Luke Shields has been one that saw him take a last place team at the time of his hire and reach the MW Championship finals, only to lose in disappointing fashion last season to winning the first MW title in Fresno State history.
“It’s been a journey … There were a lot of ups and downs to get to this point, it was emotional,” Shields said post-celebration. “We finished last in the conference my first year at Fresno State, and now we are champions.”
With the win, Fresno State punches its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012 and the 14th appearance in program history, facing No. 12-seed Stanford (17-6, 5-3 Pacific 12) in the first round set for Friday, May 3 at 2 p.m. at Taube Family Tennis Center. The Cardinals own the all-time series record against the Bulldogs, 18-1.
