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Athletics - Built to Last

By Stephen Trembley, Fresno State Media Relations

With three simple words, head coach Steve Cleveland and the Fresno State men’s basketball team embarked on their mission to reestablish the program as “Built to Last.”

“We have built this program to last,” Cleveland said. “We need to be better and we will. We are really close and committed to winning more games. Nobody wants to win more than I do.”

The Bulldogs fielded a lone senior (Dwight O’Neil), a junior transfer (Sylvester Seay), a scholar sophomore (Nedeljko Golubovic), and a host of impact freshmen (Bryce Cartwright, Paul George, Mychal Ladd and Brandon Sperling) as core contributors for a team that advanced to the Quarterfinals of the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Tournament and provided a look at the talented future of an athletic roster.

Senior guard Dwight O’Neil, who averaged 12.9 points and 4.7 assists per game, earned a top recognition as Cleveland gave him the Coach’s award. O’Neil also received the “Playmaker/Top Assists Award.”

Junior Sylvester Seay, who garnered second-team All-WAC honors while tallying 15.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, won two awards: the “Top Scorer Award” and “Top Shot Blocker Award.” Seay led the team with 58 blocks, the fourth-highest mark in the WAC.

Sophomore forward and Academic All- District 8 honoree Nedeljko Golubovic averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds on the year. Golubovic took home the “Academic Excellence Award.”

“Ned is a special young man,” Cleveland said of the program’s first Academic All-District winner. “He has a really high basketball IQ and also excels off the floor in the classroom.”

Paul George and Mychal Ladd, who averaged 34.6 and 26.8 minutes per game, respectively, both earned two awards from Cleveland. George, who started every game, won the “Outstanding 3-Point Shooter Award” and “Outstanding Rebounder" for recording 14.3 points on a league-best 44.7 percent on 3-point attempts and a team-high 6.2 rebounds. Ladd brought home the “Outstanding Free Throw Shooter Award” and “Most Improved Award,” for shooting 72.4 percent from the charity stripe (57-101). Brandon Sperling received the “Bulldog Award” from Cleveland for his work ethic and defensive presence on the floor.

“They love the game,” Cleveland said of his freshmen class. “I am happy to have these young men as the foundation for our program.”

Tennis

Eight-Straight WAC Titles for Women’s Tennis By Clay Moffitt

No other team in the Fresno State varsity athletics program experience the consistent success over the past 10 years as the Fresno State women's tennis team, and the 2009 team might be remembered as the best of all.

Since 1999, the Bulldog women won nine conference championships, including the last eight WAC Championships; produced seven WAC Players of the Year; qualified for the NCAA Tournament each year; won 14 matches in the tournament; and produced 13 All-Americans. This year's squad boasted four returning All-American doubles players—Melanie Gloria, Tinesta Rowe, Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova—two of which are also All-American singles players—Gloria and Petukhova. The school record books will bare witness to their greatness with Gloria, Petukhova, Kucerkova and Rowe ranked in the Top 20 on the Fresno State career wins list.

A talented group of underclassmen complemented the four seniors. Not only were Petukhova and Kucerkova the top-ranked doubles team for most of the spring, but both were ranked as the Top 100 singles players in college tennis. Fresno State also welcomed the 2009 Freshman of the Year, Laura Pola, to the squad.


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