Fresno upsets Trojans

Steve Carp

Monday, May 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

It was the first match of the day. And for Fresno State, it turned out to be the most important.

The Bulldogs weren't rich enough in talent to give any points away to top-seeded Southern Cal in Sunday's NCAA Region VII Men's Tennis Championship. So Robert Lindstedt and Kelly Gullett did what they had to do, which was play some in-your-face, grind-it-out tennis.

And when they persevered 10-8 in the tiebreaker over USC's George Bastl and Kyle Spencer and give Fresno the doubles point, it set the stage for an upset at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Lindstedt parlayed his doubles win into a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win in No. 2 singles over USC's Patrick Gottesleben and propelled the Bulldogs into the NCAA championships with a 4-2 victory over the Trojans.

Fresno State will be in its fourth straight appearance at the nationals, which begin Saturday at UCLA.

"After we won the doubles, I felt like I had some momentum and I could feel my energy level going up," said Lindstedt, a freshman from Sweden who improved to 18-7 in singles. "We knew doubles would be important."

Coach Peter Smith said it was critical.

"That was the difference," he said. "Getting that first point was huge for us because so many of the singles matches figured to be close.

"We had lost to them earlier this year and we used a different strategy this time. Instead of going right at Spencer, we went around him and tried to make him work."

Gullett had some key returns to keep Fresno State alive. And ultimately, Lindstedt did his share, hitting a backhand that Bastl returned into the net to give Fresno the match and the important 1-0 lead.

"Sometimes, my attention wanders and I get careless," said Lindstedt. "I've been working on trying to keep my concentration all year."

In his singles match, Lindstedt broke Gottesleben at 4-3 in the third set and appeared to be firmly in control. But Gottesleben broke right back and suddenly, things were a bit ominous.

Fresno was leading 3-1 in the match thanks to wins by Eni Ghidirmic in No. 3 singles over Spencer 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Olivier LeJeune winning No. 6 6-4, 7-6 over Akram Zaman. But the Bulldogs still needed one more.

Lindstedt was Fresno's best chance. But he would need to break Gottesleben one more time.

He did. But it was more Gottesleben's doing. Serving at 30-40 with USC's hopes on the line, Gottesleben's first serve went into the net. He sent his second serve long and for the first time in 20 years, the Trojans were not going to tennis' big dance.

USC's wins came from Bastl, who posted an easy 6-1, 6-0 win over Fredrik Giers in No. 1 singles, and Fernando Samoya, who defeated Andy Scorteanu 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in No. 5 singles.

Easley not disappointed

To get to Sunday's final, Fresno State had to get by host UNLV Saturday. The Bulldogs avenged an earlier loss to the Rebels by posting a 4-2 win in the semifinals.

The loss kept UNLV from playing for the right to go to nationals for the third straight year. But the Rebels finished 20-7 -- the first time since 1983 UNLV posted a 20-win season.

"It would've been nice to play S.C.," said coach Larry Easley. "I think we could've beaten them. But I'm very happy with the way the season went.

"It was really our best season. We won the Santa Barbara tournament. We got to the WAC finals. And while it would've been nice to win this (regional) tournament, Fresno's got a fine team and they'll be an excellent representative from our region."

Luke Smith, UNLV's top singles player at 14-9, will play in the NCAA individual championships in both singles and doubles. Tim Blenkiron will join Smith in doubles at UCLA beginning May 21.