No. 38 Fresno State concluded the season with a 4-3 loss to 14th-seeded California in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday.
The Dogs started the evening off clinching the doubles point to make for an early lead into singles and earned wins on courts two and five in singles.
No. 15 Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers were the first tandem to finish up, as they defeated the Golden Bears' No. 23 ranked doubles team Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt, 8-4. The Dogs' duo of Jean-Charles Diame and Francis Alcantara clinched the doubles point by defeating Cal's No. 2 team, Ben McLachlan and Pedro Zerbini, 9-7.
California pulled ahead in singles, earning victories on courts three, four and one, giving the Golden Bears a 3-1 lead over the Dogs.
No. 108 Boutillier pushed the No. 64 singles player in the country Carlos Cueto to three sets. Boutillier took the first set 6-4 but fell in the second, 6-7 (7-2). He won the third set 6-3 to bring the score to 3-2.
On court five, Nick Papac came up short in the first set against Bozhidar Katsaroy (5-7), but battled back in the second set, 6-4. In the third set, Papac pushed it to a tiebreaker and earned the Dogs' final point in the day, 7-6 (7-4).
David Ayoun won the first set (7-5) before falling 4-6, 4-6 in the final two.
Fresno State's doubles pair of de Villiers and Boutillier will compete in the NCAA Doubles Championships May 25-30 in Stanford, Calif.
2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships
Second Round
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.
No. 15 California 4, No. 38 Fresno State 3
Doubles
1. No. 15 Boutillier/de Villiers (FS) def. No. 23 Andrews/Konigsfeldt (CAL), 8-4
2. Diame/Alcantara (FS) def. McLachlan/Zerbini (CAL), 7-9
3. No. 87 Cueto/Dahan (CAL) vs. Alapati/Papac (FS), 7-5 DNF
Order of Finish: 1, 2*
Singles
1. No. 20 Pedro Zerbini (CAL) def. Rikus de Villiers (FS), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
2. No. 108 Remi Boutillier (FS) def. No. 64 Carlos Cueto (CAL), 6-4, 6-7 (7-2), 6-3
3. No. 96 Nick Andrews (CAL) def. Jean-Charles Diame (FS), 6-1, 6-1
4. Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CAL) def. Francis Alcantara (FS), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
5. Nick Papac (FS) def. Bozhidar Katsarov (CAL), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
6. Riki McLachlan (CAL) def. David Ayoun (FS), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 6*