San Diego, Calif.----- It wasn't until 12 days ago that the San Jose State University women's tennis defeated Fresno State in a women's tennis dual match ever. For the second time in April, the Spartans came away with a 4-2 victory over the Bulldogs in an opening round Mountain West Tournament dual match.
San Jose State (10-8) advances to the quarterfinal round as the #8-seed and faces top-seed UNLV on Thursday, April 25, at 10:00 a.m. on the Aztec Tennis Center courts on the San Diego State campus.
Unlike the earlier in Fresno during the regular season when the Bulldogs won the doubles point, the Spartans moved into the six singles matches with a 1-0 lead after winning #2 and #3 doubles with the pairs of Miyo Kobayashi and Alba Pedrero Galindo at #2 and Tamara Culibrk and Klara Milojkovic at #3.
Savannah Sendar at #4 singles and Pedero Galindo at #3 singles won their matches in straight sets to give San Jose State a 3-1 lead and needing one more singles victory to claim the match.
"Everyone contributed to this win. It was great to see Savannah win her rematch (at #4-singles) along with Alba battling (successfully) to set up Laura who did a great job closing out her third set to clinch it for us," San Jose State women's tennis coach said about the three-hour long match.
Sophomore Laura Malsert would come through with the win at #5 singles for the Spartans with her 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 triumph over Fresno State's Deniza Marcinkevica.
San Jose State had not beaten Fresno State in 19 previous meetings in the all-time series until April 12 in Fresno. Now, the Spartans have a two-match winning streak over the Bulldogs and can look at avenging a 4-0 regular-season loss to UNLV in the April 25 Mountain West quarterfinal round.
San Jose State University women's tennis
Mountain West Championship Tournament
#8-seed San Jose State vs. #9-seed Fresno State
Aztec Tennis Center, San Diego, Calif.
April 24, 2019
Final score – San Jose State 4, Fresno State 2
| Doubles |
| Savannah Sendar & Laura Malsert (SJSU) vs. Georgia Lawson & Jennifer Timotin (FS), 4-4, unfinished |
| Miyo Kobayashi & Alba Pedrero Galindo (SJSU) def. Deniza Marcinkevica & Ella Husrefovic, 6-3 |
| Tamara Culibrk & Klara Milojkovic (SJSU) def. Shir Azran & A.C. Hummel (FS), 6-2 |
| Order of finish: 2,3 |
| Singles |
| Shir Azran (FS) def. Tamara Culbirk (SJSU), 6-2, 6-1 |
| Miyo Kobayashi (SJSU) vs. Jennifer Timotin (FS). 5-7 6-3, 4-3 unfinished |
| Alba Pedrero Galindo (SJSU) def. A.C. Hummel (FS), 6-4, 6-4 |
| Savannah Sendar (SJSU) def. Georgia Lawson (FS), 6-0, 6-1 |
| Laura Malsert (SJSU) def. Deniza Marcinkevica (FS), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 |
| Ella Husrefovic (FS) def. Klara Milojkovic (SJSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 |
| Order of finish: 4,1,3,6,5 |
| Records: Fresno State – 9-12; San Jose State, 10-8 |