April 26, 2001

OJAI, Calif. - Utah State's women's tennis team won a Big West Championship match for the first time in school history as the Aggies defeated Cal State Fullerton 4-3 in a first round play-in match here Thursday.

The Aggies, who were seeded ninth, lost the doubles point, but won four of the six singles matches to upend the Titans, who were the eighth seed in the tournament. USU will face number one seed Long Beach State Friday morning.

USU's singles wins came from number one player Sarah Lowe, as well as Richelle Ferguson and Tracy Bertagna at number three and four respectively, as well as Amelia Martinez at number six.

Lowe won her match 6-2, 6-2, while Martinez cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at number six. Ferguson and Bertagna each had 7-5 wins as Ferguson won by that score in the first set before closing out her opponent 6-1 in the second set and Bertagna won her first set 6-1 before the 7-5 second set.

The win was the first for USU, which was 0-10 in Big West Championships play since the tournament started in 1991.

UTAH STATE 4, CAL STATE FULLERTON 3

Singles

#1 - Sarah Lowe (USU) def. Ana Iacob, 6-2, 6-2

#2 - Eleanor Luzano (CSF) def. Jocee Mason, 6-4, 7-5

#3 - Richelle Ferguson (USU) def. Adriana Hockicko, 7-5, 6-1

#4 - Tracy Bertagna (USU) def. Michelle Arndt, 6-1, 7-5

#5 - Iona Sisoe (CSF) def. Johanna Johnson, 6-3, 6-1

#6 - Amelia Martinez (USU) def. Jessica Martin, 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

#1 - Hockicko/Luzano (CSF) def. Lowe/Thatcher, 8-5

#2 - Mason/Ferguson (USU) def. Sisoe/Cruz, 8-3

#3 - Arndt/Jacob (CSF) def. Bertagna/Martinez, 8-4