March 22, 2008

FRESNO, Calif. - The 16th-ranked Fresno State women's tennis team won its second-straight match this weekend with a 6-1 win over Brigham Young on Saturday. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead after the doubles point and won five of six singles matches to secure the victory.

"We beat a good program today," said head coach Simon Thibodeau. "I thought we had good performances on every court and gave ourselves a chance to win each match. We paid much more attention to detail today and executed on key points."

Fresno State was competitive in each doubles match to start the contest. Second-ranked Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe came out with an early win, defeating Miccoli and Surkova 8-3 at the No. 1 spot.

Playing at the No. 2 spot in doubles, 26th-ranked Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova clinched the doubles point for the 'Dogs. The duo won their match against BYU's Chang and Doerr 8-3.

The Bulldogs kept the energy-level high as they entered the singles matches. Playing at the No. 1 spot for the second match in a row, 12th-ranked Petukhova stayed strong and defeated 86th-ranked Anastasia Surkova, 6-3, 6-1.

Kucerkova finished second in singles and controlled her match from start to finish, defeating Chie Hayasaka straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.

Thirteenth-ranked Gloria clinched the match for the Bulldogs, beating No. 80 Kristina Doerr, 6-2, 6-2.

Playing at the No. 4 and 5 spots, 104th-ranked Rowe and senior Jacqueline Haskett won their two matches in straight sets as well.

The Bulldogs improved to 9-5 on the season, while BYU fell to 8-8 overall. Fresno State will be traveling to southern California this week to play two matches against No. 10 USC on Thursday and Harvard on Saturday.

NCAA Women's Tennis
Fresno, Calif. (Wathen Tennis Center)M
March 22, 2008

No. 16 Fresno State def. No. 37 BYU, 6-1

Doubles (Fresno State Wins Doubles Point)
1) No. 2 Gloria/Rowe (FS) def. No. 35 Miccooli/Surkova (BYU), 8-3
2) No. 26 Petukhova/Kucerkova (FS) def. No. 60 Chang/Doerr (BYU), 8-3
3) Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Beatty/Heroux (FS), 8-5
Order of Completion: 1, 2, 3

Singles
1) No. 12 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. No. 86 Anastasia Surkova (BYU), 6-3, 6-1
2) *No. 13 Melanie Gloria (FS) def. No. 80 Kristina Doerr (BYU), 6-2, 6-3
3) Renata Kucerkova (FS) def. Chie Hayasaka (BYU), 6-1, 6-2
4) No. 104 Tinesta Rowe (FS) def. Dolly Chang (BYU), 6-1, 6-3
5) Jacqueline Haskett (FS) def. Elle Carney (BYU), 7-6 (4), 6-2
6) Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) def. Bruna Paes (FS), 7-5, 7-5
Order of Completion: 1, 3, 2*, 4, 5, 6
* Clinched Match

Records:Fresno State (9-5), BYU (8-8)