'Dog Bites

Women’s Tennis

Fresno State women’s tennis players Kathrin Winterhalter and Lucia Sainz took first in doubles this weekend when they defeated California in the Bulldog Classic at the Wathen Tennis Center.

The duo took their place on the top, defeating Cal pair, Kathrin Havlicek and Jody Scheldt, who were seeded third. Last year, Winterhalter and Sainz teamed up for a 10-4 record in No. 2 doubles.

On Sunday, Lucia Tallo won her singles match to claim the fifth-place playoff, and Winterhalter claimed ninth place.

The Bulldog Classic serves as the opener for Fresno State women’s tennis 2003-04 season. The team heads off to Pacific Palisades, Calif. Oct. 7 to the Riviera All-America Tournament.

Volleyball

This November, when the Hawaii women’s volleyball team comes to town, the North Gym will not be the venue the Bulldogs will host them in.

Instead, they will move to the Save Mart Center, which seats more than 16,000.

Last year, some fans were turned away for the standing-room-only crowd of nearly 1,400 packed the North Gym to see the Rainbow Wahine battle the Bulldogs.

The meeting between the two teams was originally scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. but has now been moved to Sunday, Nov. 9 at 12 p.m.

The volleyball team will follow the lead of the Bulldog Basketball Extravaganza (Nov. 5) and a concert by Andrea Bocelli (Nov. 7) as the first week of Grand Opening activities and will be the first true athletic competition in the arena.

Ticket prices for the event will remain the same for the match-up while parking will require a $3 charge.

Fresno State Athletic Director Scott Johnson said he is thrilled the Save Mart Center will be completed ahead of schedule to allow the teams to compete in the arena.

“ It will be a great showcase for volleyball in the Valley,” Johnson said.

Volleyball’s Fenton back to back WAC player of week

Fresno State junior outside hitter Kristen Fenton has been named WAC Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.

Capturing the award in volleyball has been rare for the Bulldogs volleyball program since joining the league in 1992.

In that time, a span of 153 weeks, only 11 Bulldogs volleyball players have achieved the award 15 different times.

With the most recent award, Fenton is now tied with former Bulldogs Diana Nalbandian and Tricia Tuley for the most WAC Player of the Week honors ever garnered (3).

Last week, Fenton helped lead Fresno State to a 2-0 record as the Bulldogs played their first two WAC games of the season. Fenton recorded 20 or more kills in both matches, including a double-double, and leads the league in kills per game in WAC matches with 6.57.

For the season, Fenton has 15 double-digit kill matches, 10 double-digit dig matches, 11 20+ kill matches, one 30 kill match and 10 double-doubles .

Women’s soccer

The women’s soccer team spent the weekend in Texas and dropped its first two league games.

The Bulldogs (3-6-2, 0-2-0) have lost four straight games, including Friday’s 2-0 loss at UTEP and Sunday’s 6-1 loss at SMU.

Fresno State was outshot 18-8 by SMU, which led 2-0 at the half and scored three more goals in the second half before senior Erin Sayegusa scored her first goal of the season.

On Friday, Fresno State reversed the trend and outshot the Miners 16-7, but the Bulldogs couldn’t put a shot past the goal line.

The Bulldogs return home for a match against Boise State at Bulldog Stadium Friday at 7 p.m. before leaving for a game against Western Athletic Conference foe Nevada Sunday at 1 p.m.

Men’s Tennis

Five Fresno State players won matches against Arkansas opponents on the final day of competition in the Polo Tennis Collegiate Tournament in Tulsa, Okla.

Fresno State’s highest ranked player, No. 76 Hector Almada, and teammate Sergui Modoc both won singles matches in the Flight A division in straight sets.

Alex Krohn, Greg Shearer and Andy Sinn all won singles matches in Flight B.

The tournament featured some of the best programs in the country, including No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 13 Texas.