No. 14 Bulldogs Head to Sweet Sixteen After 4-0 Defeat of No. 20 Pepperdine
Junior Jacqueline Haskett clinched the match and the Bulldogs won the crucial doubles point to vault them back to the NCAA Round of 16.
FRESNO, Calif. - For the second straight season the Fresno State women's tennis team will be heading to the NCAA Round of 16. The 14th-ranked Bulldogs earned the right when they defeated No. 20 Pepperdine 4-0, Sunday afternoon at the Wathen Tennis Center. Junior Jacqueline Haskett clinched the match, beating Eva Dickes 7-6 (4), 6-4 at the No. 5 spot.
The most crucial point, however, came in doubles. The decisive match occurred on court No. 3, where freshman Vanessa Heroux and sophomore Danon Beatty edged Jillian Braverman and Katia Sabate 9-7. The contest went back and forth and was tied 7-7 before the Fresno State duo broke and then served to clinch the doubles point for the `Dogs.
"Vanessa is only a freshman, but she played like a senior today," said head coach Simon Thibodeau. "She really stepped up and Danon made some good shots when they needed it to give us the very important doubles point."
Pepperdine's Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Kosakowski won on court No. 1, defeating sophomores Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe 8-2. Freshmen Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova beat Anete Bandere and Dickes 8-2 on court No. 2 before the `Dogs sealed it at the No. 3 position.
Haskett's win was her seventh-straight. She beat a very experienced player in Dickes and had to come from behind get the win. Haskett trailed 4-1 and 5-2 in the first set before eventually taking a 6-5 lead. Dickes forced a tiebreaker and led 3-0 before Haskett rallied to win 7-4.
"I was very pleased to see that we gave ourselves a chance to win on every court," Thibodeau said. "Jacqui played tough and really fought hard to make that comeback."
Petukhova was on top of her game, beating Katia Sabate 6-0, 6-1. Petukhova has now won 14 consecutive matches, all of which have come in straight sets. She improved to 23-3 overall and 20-3 in dual matches.
Gloria put the `Dogs up 3-0 before Haskett clinched the match. Gloria topped Dulgheru 6-2, 7-5, improving to 36-4 overall and 22-1 in dual matches.
Fresno State now heads to the sweet sixteen for the third time in four seasons under Thibodeau. The `Dogs lost to Georgia 4-2 in 2004 and lost 4-1 to Miami last season. Fresno State will face No. 3 Georgia Tech on May 18 at 3 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
Women's NCAA Tournament (Second Round)
May 13, 2007
Wathen Tennis Center - Fresno, Calif.
No. 14 Fresno State def. No. 20 Pepperdine, 4-0
Doubles (Fresno State wins doubles point)
1) No. 38 Dulgheru/Kosakowski (PEP) def. No. 39 Gloria/Rowe (FS), 8-2
2) No. 52 Kucerkova/Petukhova (FS) def. Bandere/Dickes (PEP), 8-2
3) Beatty/Heroux (FS) def. Braverman/Sabate (PEP), 9-7
Order of completion: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1) No. 3 Melanie Gloria (FS) def. No. 65 Bianca Dulgheru (PEP), 6-2, 7-5
2) No. 54 Renata Kucerkova (FS) v. No. 52 Sylvia Kosakowski (PEP), 2-6, 6-1, 4-3 DNF
3) No. 80 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. No. 123 Katia Sabate (PEP), 6-0, 6-1
4) Tinesta Rowe (FS) v. Caroline Raba (PEP), 6-2, 5-7, 1-1 DNF
5) Jacqueline Haskett (FS) def. Eva Dickes (PEP), 7-6 (4), 6-4
6) Danon Beatty (FS) v. Anete Bandere (PEP), 4-6, 7-6 (0), 0-1 DNF
Order of completion: 3, 1, 5
Records: Fresno State (22-3); Pepperdine (20-10)
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