Bulldogs swing to another victory

Staff Reports

Fresno State learned of its new No. 13 ranking Tuesday morning, and added reason to keep the ranking with a 5-2 victory over No. 74 Kansas State later in the afternoon.

The Bulldogs’ women’s tennis team (11-2) has won 10 of its last 11 matches to rise to its highest national ranking since the 1999-2000 season.

The doubles competition belonged to Fresno State Tuesday at the Wathen Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs won all three doubles matches, led by the nation’s 44th-ranked doubles team of freshman Jelena Pandzic and Lucia Tallo. Pandzic and Tallo won 8-2 at No. 1 doubles, with Lucia Sainz and Katharina Winterhalter winning 9-8 (6) at No. 2 and Courtney Jantz and Vlatka Jovanovic winning 8-0 in the No. 3 slot.

In singles, No. 76 Tallo was upset by Kansas State’s Jessica Simosa 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and Jovanovic lost 3-6, 6-2 (20-8) at No. 4 singles. But those were the only two victories Kansas State (3-8) picked up.

Pandzic, ranked 17th in singles, won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles and Winterhalter pulled out a win at No. 3, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

The Bulldogs had little trouble picking up two more points in the Nos. 5 and 6 spots, with Sainz and Jantz each winning 6-0, 6-0.

Tuesday’s victory marked Fresno State’s third match in the past six days. And the workload isn’t slowing down yet. The Bulldogs host UC-Santa Barbara today at 1 p.m.

Then the team is off to Tucson, Ariz. to meet No. 36 Arizona on Saturday and No. 24 Harvard on Monday.

“ We are in the middle of a tough stretch,” interim coach Simon Thibodeau said in a press release. “Because of that, we had some fatigue out there today. But most important has been the fact that with all of these matches, we have not had a chance to practice as much as we would like, so some of the players have fallen into some bad habits….”

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 5-0 at home this season.