1996_02 The Daily Collegian February 1996

              .    THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Thursday, February 8,1996*
Sports
Sports Editor: Brian R. Fisher
.Telephone: (209) 278-5733
BULLDOG
SPORTS
* If a Fresno State athletic
event has or will happen on
campus, you'll find it here
SCORES
MEN'S TENNIS
Fresno State 5
USC 2
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Fresno State 0
Stamord
SCH]
EDULE
TODAY'S GAMES
• Men's Basketball @ San Diego
State University, 7 p.m.
• Women's Basketball vs.
Wyoming @ North Gym. 7 p.m.
• Men's Tennis — National
Individual Indoor Champion¬
ships @ Dallas, Texas, All day.
/**
' TOMORROW'S GAMES
• Wrestling vs. Wyoming @
North Gym, 7 p.m.
• Men's Tennis —National
Individual Indoor Champion¬
ships @ Dallas, All day.
• Baseball @ Fullerton, 7 p!m.
SATURDAY, FEfrlQ
• Baseball @ Fullerton, 1 p.m.
•Trac^k and Field @Reno
Indoor Invitational, All day.
■\^j_J     • Women's Basketball vs.
Colorado State ©North Gym. 7
p.m.
• Men's Basketball @ Hawaii,
9:35 p.m.
BULLDOG BRIEFS
Kearney WAC honors of
week for second
consecutive week
Fresno State senior Moses
Kearney was named the WAC
male track and field athlete of
the week for the second con¬
secutive week.
Kearney cleared 7'-4 1/2" in
the high jump at-the^BtHCosby
Invitational in Reno, Nev^
breaking the school record for
the second straight week. The
mark automatically qualified
Kearney for the NCAA Indoor
Championships.
Football team signs 21 prep
and junior college recruits
The Fresno State football
team signed some of the state's
top players yesterday, the first
day that recruits could sign a
letter of intent.
Check tomorrow's edition of
The Collegian as complete
coverage will be given on the
new recruits.
Men's Tennis upsets eighth-ranked USC
Sports Information
Bryan won both his singles and doubles match play against
Stanford in Fresno State's upset victory over eighth ranked USC.
By Troy Wagner
Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES — In 1992 it
was the Freedom Bowl in football.
In 1994 it was the National In¬
vitation Tournament in men's bas¬
ketball.
And on Tuesday, it was the
men's tennis team.
For the third time in four years,
a Fresno State team has defeated a
USC team.
The 13th-tanked Bulldogs used
momentum from their 5-2 loss
against defending NCAA champion
Stanford - not a bad result Consid¬
ering the Cardinal has not lost to
anyone since losing to USC in the
1994 NCAA championships - and
handed the eighth ranked Trojans
their first loss' of the season, 5-2.
"I can honestly say that I cried
tears of joy for the first time in my
career as a tennis coach," said fifth-
year Head Coach Peter Smith. "It
was the most satisfying victory in
my career."
And it was Fresno State's first
ever victory over USC, a 15-time
NCAA champion, which includes
titles in three of the last five sea¬
sons (1991, 1993 and 1994).
Fresno State took a quick 1-0
lead after winning two of the three
doubles matches.
"It started with doubles," said
Smith. "The guys went out and were
super, super tough."
The Bulldogs defeated the Tro¬
jans at the Nos. 1 and 3 positions in
doubles, with Fredrik Giers and
Ryan Juinio defeating Cecil Mamiit
at No.-ii8-6) and Kelly Gullett and
Bryan Juinio defeating Manny
Ramirez and Fernando Samayoa at
No. 3 (8-2)
Fresno State carried its momen¬
tum into the six singles matches,
where they won four of them in
straight sets.
. "We beat them straight down the
line," Smith said. "All our guys
played tough, and it showed in the
results." .    ,
At No. 1 singles. Bulldog All-
American Fredrik Bergh cruised to
an easy 6-3, 6-3 victory over Adam
Peterson to improve to 4 1 this sea¬
son.
Senior Blago Petrov had a great
day, defeating Lukas Hovorka 6-4,
7-5 at the No. 3 position. At No. 4,
senior Bryan Juinio had a surpris¬
ingly easy 6-2,6-2 win over Manny
Ramirez.
"Bryan played a great match
against a great player," said Smith.
Please see TENNIS, Page 7.
Fresno State falls to Stanford, 9-0
By Paige Devers
Sports Writer
Fresno State saw its five-match
win streak come to a screeching halt
in Palo Alto Tuesday when it lost
to third ranked Stanford, 9-0.
The loss drops the Bulldog's
record to 7-2 while Stanford is now
5-0.
Freshman Dora Djilianova's first
loss this season came at the hands
of Ania Bleszynski, who is the fifth
rated   player   in   the   nation.
Djilianova managed to keep both
games close at 6-4,6-4.
"Dora was there," Head Coach
Irene Harris said. "It was just a
match that someone had to lose."
Terje Pallo, also a freshman, held
her own against the Cardinal's
Issem Essais. Pallo was up 4-0 in
the first set, but was unabje to hold
on and ended up losing 6-4,6-1.
The Bulldogs also dropped all
three doubles matches.
Djilianova and Pallo fell 8-1 to
Stanford's tandem of Kim Shasby
and Julie Scott.
Fresno State's Liz Marpuri and
Laura Townsend lost to Amy
Chiminello and Emily Burt, 8-1.
"It's always a good experience
to play a tough match," Harris said.
"Once they are in the match they
realize they can do this and our team
can get closer to their [Stanford's]
kind of play."
'    Both of Fresno State's losses this
season have been to top 10 teams.
Friday's scheduled match
against UC Santa Barbara was can¬
celed recently. The 'Dogs will play
again on Feb 14th against sixth-
ranked Cal.
Van Horn named WAC Player of the Week
By Matt Croce
Sports Writer
Utah junior forward Keith Van
Horn was named WAC Player of
the Week for his performances in
the Utes' victories over UTEP and
New Mexico. Van Hom averaged
23.5 points, 9 rebounds, and 1.5
assists over the two contests. He
scored a stason-best.30 points
against UNM, and followed that
with 17 against UTEP. He grabbed
nine rebounds in each game. The
Sporting News' preseason favorite
for WAC Player of the Year is cur¬
rently second in the WAC in scor¬
ing (20.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.9
rpg). Van Horn also ranks fourth in
field goal percentage (.516), fifth in
free throw percentage (.829), and
sixth in three-point percentage
(.385).
Other top performers for
the week: Air Force's Reggie
Minton led the Falcons with a
team-high 18 points against Wyo-
WAC
ming and
added a ca¬
reer-high 25
# points ver¬
sus   Colo¬
rado State.
byus jus-
Notebook WeIdaUer
.nailed 69
percent (9-13) from the floor, and
averaged 11 points, 11 rebounds,
and 5.5 assists against UNM and
UTEP. Fresno State's Kendric
Brooks averaged 22 points and 5.5
rebounds in victories over Colorado
State and Wyoming. He shot 43
percent from the field (12-28) and
converted 15 of 16 free throws.
, Last weeks WAC player of
the week: Ladrell Whitehead
"continued his red-hot scoring
streak. The sophomore guard aver¬
aged 25.5 points. 3.5 assists, and 3
rebounds per game at Air Force and
Fresno State.. He shot 44 percent
(16-36) from the field, including 9
Q
of 15 from three point land, and hit
10 of 14 free throws.
Road still tough for WAC
teams: WAC road games have
long been considered a tough jchore
for conference members due to the
distances and hostile arenas. There
appears to be a trend of greater road
success in 1996, however. WAC
teams are currently a combined 20-
34 (.370) in league road contests.
Last year the 10 WAC teams com¬
bined for a final 25-65 (.278) mark
on the conference road after a 31-
59 (.344) record in 1994.
Some teams, however, are still
not having much success on the
road. Air Force is 0-4 away from
home, UTEP 1-5, Hawaii 0-5, and
Wyoming 1 -5. Those teams having
some success include first-place
Utah, a perfect 4-0 on the road, New
Mexico 4-3, and Colorado State
also 4-3.
Utah remains in top 10: Utah
held on to seventh place in the na¬
tional polls this week in both the
CNNifUSA Today and Associated
Press Top 25 rankings. New Mexico
and Fresno State received votes in
the CNN/USA Today rankings,
while the Lobos also garnered votes
in the AP poll.
BYU continues to lead the WAC
attendance race, averaging 17,313
fans per game. New Mexico is close
behind, at an average of 16,658.
Utah is third with a 14,228 mark.
BYU also owns the league's larg¬
est crowd of the season as the Wyo¬
ming game on Jan. 18 drew 20.181
fans to the Marriott Center. *
UTEP is in the midst of an eight-
game losing skid, its worst in 18
years. They are 10-10 overall on the
year, but only 2-9 in WAC play. Part
of Miners' problems can be attrib¬
uted to poor shooting and rebound¬
ing. The team ranks ninth in league
games, shooting just over 41 per¬
cent from the floor. They also rank
last in rebound margin, allowing
opponents to outboard the Miners
by an average of five rebounds per
contest.