Joseph Edgecomb / The Collegian

Coming off of a strong 6-1 win against Nevada, the No. 16 ranked Fresno State women’s tennis team hosted No. 26 ranked Pepperdine Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs dominated the Wolfpack on Saturday, winning the doubles point and winning five of their six singles matches.

Sunday’s beautiful weather brought a large fan turnout to cheer the Bulldogs on during their singles and double matches, but the Bulldogs lost, 4-3.

Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova dominated in their match against Nevada’s Jill Braverman and Anamika Bhargara.

Kucerkova and Petukhova won, 8-5.

Fresno State played better in doubles, winning two of the three matches.

The intensity rose on the court when the singles matches began, but the Bulldogs lost their singles, 4-2.

Coach Simon Thibodeau felt that the team showed good effort, but made many small mistakes during the singles matches.

“Pepperdine came strong in singles and doubles, but especially in the singles,” he said. “We need to take care of the ball better and not make those little mistakes.”

Thibodeau believes that Pepperdine played strong and is much better than it is ranked.

He said he is confident that the Bulldogs will win the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) because they have played extremely well against other WAC teams.

His main concern is the competitors in the NCAA tournament.

Kucerkova said that the match against Pepperdine was their biggest until the NCAA tournament.

“We definitely want to win WAC for the 7th time in a row and move onto the NCAA,” she said.

For its next six matches, Fresno State will host Hawaii, Saint Mary’s, Loyola Marymount, Long Beach State, Cal Poly and

Pacific before the WAC Championships begin on April 24 in Las Cruces, N.M.

Remaining matches
Women’s tennis will play six matches at home before heading to the WAC tournament.

4/12 vs. Hawaii, Saint Mary’s
4/13 vs. Loyola Marymount
4/18 vs. Long Beach State
4/19 vs. Cal Poly, Pacific