College Station, Texas - The No. 25th-ranked Boise State Broncos and the No. 16th-ranked Fresno State Bulldogs will represent the Western Athletic Conference in the round of 16 in the men's and women's NCAA Tennis Championships, respectively. Both teams earned 4-0 wins in the opening round of the tournament before defeating their respective second round opponents, 4-3.
Boise State's appearance in the round of 16 is the first for a WAC men's program since 2003, when Rice defeated its first two tournament opponents. Conversly, Fresno State will make its fourth appearance in the round of 16 since it joined the WAC.
Fresno State
Nothing comes easy on the road, and the 16th-ranked Fresno State women's tennis had to grind out every match to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the fourth-straight year with a 4-3 victory over No. 34 Illinois on Sunday in Urbana, Ill.
Not only did the win come down to the final match, but a dramatic tiebreaker in the final set.
With the team scored tied 3-3, No. 67 Renata Kucerkova of Fresno State found herself tied 6-6 in the final set with Illinois' Chelcie Abajian on the Illini's home court. Kucerkova battled back after dropping the first set, 6-4, and winning the second, 6-1.
The junior from Roznov, Czech Republic, knocked off Abajian, 7-4, in the tiebreaker to win the final set, clinch the match for Bulldogs and a berth in the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in school history.
"It was a pretty intense match, especially in the third set, because if I didn't win there was no tomorrow," Kucerkova said. "I was really into it and my whole team was super cheering for me and that was great. I am just happy I pulled out the deciding win to move the team to the Sweet 16."
The Bulldogs came strong out of the gates by earning the doubles team point. The nation's top-ranked duo of Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova defeated Leigh Finnegan and Abajian, 8-2. Shortly after that, Danon Beatty and Laura Pola clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 victory over Annie McCarthy/Amy Allin.
No. 23 Petukhova continued her aggressive style of play, and was the first to finish her singles match by knocking off 103rd-ranked Finnegan, 6-1, 6-1, to give Fresno State a 2-0 lead at that point in the match.
Illinois won the next three matches, to take a 3-2 lead and appeared to be on the verge of upsetting the Bulldogs.
Senior Bruna Paes knotted the team score again at 3-3 with a crucial 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Kristina Minor.
"I'm proud of our team for competing in a tough Illinois environment," head coach Simon Thibodeau said. "They have a strong crowd, and it was a little windy, but we played inspired, and moved on to the Sweet 16. We now have a week to prepare and get better for Northwestern."
Fresno State will face No. 1 Northwestern, which advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 4-1 victory over Kentucky, on Friday at 1 p.m. PT in College Station, Texas.
The Bulldogs and Wildcats met before on March 27 on a neutral court in San Diego, Calif., when Northwestern narrowly escaped with a 4-3 victory. Fresno State holds a 3-2 edge in the series history.
Boise State
After earning one of the biggest upsets in Boise State men’s tennis history by defeating Alabama on their home courts Saturday, the Broncos are refocusing to face the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship Round of 16 on Thursday, May 14.
The Broncos (24-8) earned a barnburner upset over the Crimson Tide in the NCAA second round this past weekend, advancing to the round of 16 for only the second time in school history.
The furthest Boise State has advanced in a tournament was to the quarterfinal round in 1997 where they finished in a tie for fifth-place. Advancing to the top-16 again this season will give the Broncos another chance to reach the quarterfinals. Boise State holds a 9-13 record in NCAA tournament matches.
Ohio State (33-1) advances to the round of 16 after earning a 4-0 win over Xavier in the first round and a 4-1 win over Michigan in the second round on their home courts in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes’ only loss of the season was to then-ranked No. 8 Tennessee who won over then-ranked No. 1 Ohio State, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the ITA Team Indoor Championships in February.
Boise State and the Buckeyes begin their NCAA Championship final rounds experience in College Station, Texas on Thursday with a 2:00 p.m. (MT) match at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University.
The Broncos are participating in their 14th NCAA tournament while the Buckeyes are making their eighth trip. Ohio State best appearance was in 2004 when they made it to the quarterfinal round.
The Broncos boast three nationally ranked singles players, No. 24 Clancy Shields, No. 72 Kean Feeder and No. 87 James Meredith. Feeder and Meredith join as the 43rd-ranked doubles team in the country. Ohio State features three top-25 singles players, including No. 3 Brian Koniecko, No. 9 Steven Moneke, No. 25 Justin Kronauge, as well as No. 74 Balazs Novak and No. 98 Shuhei Uzawa. In doubles rankings, the Buckeyes’ Moneke and Kronauge join as the 14th-ranked team while Moneke also holds a ranking with Novak as the No. 61-ranked doubles team in the nation.
Overall, the two teams have only squared off three times in the all-time series, with the Buckeyes coming away with all three wins. Their most recent win over the Broncos came just last season at the ITA Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 14, 2008) with a 4-0 sweep of Boise State.
The Broncos have a few milestones to strive for over the next week with senior Clancy Shields sitting only three wins away from hitting 100 career singles wins. He is also only four wins short of 90 in his career doubles record. Head coach Greg Patton is nearing his 300th win at Boise State holding a 297-98 record while also sitting just one win away from the 650 win mark in his overall coaching career.
The winner of the Boise State/Ohio State match will advance on to the quarterfinal round where they will face the winner of the Wake Forest (22-9) vs. Baylor (25-5) match on Saturday, May 16 at 3:00 p.m. (MT).