By Mohamed Bafakih
Defending Mountain West women’s tennis champions San Jose State couldn’t defend its title run after falling to eventual champion Fresno State 4-0 in the semifinal round on Saturday.
The season concluded in Boise, Idaho with No. 2 Fresno State capping off an impressive Mountain West Championship run by outscoring its opponents 12-2 in three matches and a 4-1 win over No. 1 UNLV in the championship game.
The Spartans meanwhile, who were the three-seed for the second straight year, ran into a Bulldogs team that was coming in hot as they won five of their final six regular season matches.
SJSU was down early in doubles after Fresno State junior Olivia Noble and sophomore Katerina Stloukalova knocked off sophomores Tamara Culibrk and Clara Mantaux, 6-1. The Bulldogs added the doubles point with sophomore Georgia Lawson and junior Emma Wilson getting the 6-2 edge over Spartan freshman Savannah Sendar and senior Sybille Gauvain.
With a championship birth on the line, the singles matches were the only hope for SJSU to defend its title.
However, Fresno State took control of each match as sophomore Juliane Triebe defeated junior Miyo Kobayashi 6-2, 6-0 and cruised past the Spartans and later UNLV.
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