No. 12 Women's Tennis Tops Cal State Northridge 4-1 in First Round of NCAA Tournament
Bulldogs (21-4) will play UCLA Sunday at 1 p.m. for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.
May 12, 2001
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FRESNO, Calif. -- No. 12 Fresno State women's tennis cruised past Cal State Northridge 4-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center.
Fresno State, the tournament's No. 11 overall seed, won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Bulldog's No. 1 team of Simone Jardim and Kim Niggemeyer, ranked No. 6 nationally, recorded an 8-1 rout of Marina Baydak and Shaheen Bhanji. Liesl Fichtbauer and Courtney Jantz posted an 8-4 win at the No. 2 spot over the Matador's Tereza Simonyan and Gabriella Reiner.
The Bulldogs (21-4) won two of the next three singles matches against the Matadors (22-9), the tournament's No. 49-64 seed, to open a 3-1 advantage. No. 23 Niggemeyer and Jardim posted straight-set singles victories at the Nos. 1 and 3 spots of the lineup, respectively, before Chantel Wiggins was forced to retire at No. 4. With Fresno State leading 3-1, Jantz then clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Shaheen Bhanji at No. 6 singles.
Fresno State advances to the second round where they will face UCLA, the No. 17-32 seed, Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bruins defeated Georgia Tech 4-3 in their first round match.
The Bulldogs picked up their first victory in school history against UCLA earlier this season, when they notched a 5-2 road win Feb. 23. The Bruins were playing without No. 18 Sara Walker, who was sidelined with an injury. However, the Bulldogs managed to sweep all three doubles matches and collect singles victories at four of the six spots in the lineup to earn the win.
Fresno State- 4
Cal State Northridge- 1
Singles
1) No. 23 Kim Niggemeyer (FS) def. Marina Baydak (CSN) 6-1, 6-3
2) No. 41 Liesl Fichtbauer (FS) vs. Tereza Simonyan (CSN) abandoned
3) Simone Jardim (FS) def. Gabriella Reiner (CSN) 6-2, 6-3
4) Tia Kaasalainen (CSN) def. Chantel Wiggins (CSN) 3-6, 2-1, ret.
5) Kelly Ramirez (FS) vs. Rani Setiawati (CSN) abandoned
6) Courtney Jantz (FS) def. Shaheen Bhanji (CSN) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
1) No. 6 Jardim/Niggemeyer (FS) def. Baydak/Bhanji (CSN) 8-1
2) Fichtbauer/Jantz (FS) def. Simonyan/Reiner (CSN) 8-4
3) Ramirez/Wiggins vs. Kaasalainen/Setiawati (CSN) abandoned
