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COACHES BIOS COACHES BIOS THE THIBODEAU FILE FRESNO STATE WOMEN'S TENNIS SIMON THIBODEAU In just eight seasons, Si- mon Thibodeau has es- tablished himself as one of the top coaches in the nation and the Fresno State history books. The list of milestones dur- ing his short tenure is already impressive: seven WAC titles; five appearances in the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tour- nament; the best year-end ranking in program history; five WAC Coach of the Year honors and a highest winning percentage of 75 percent while playing a sched- ule some of the top teams in the na- tion. In the 2011 sea- son, Marianne Jodoin emerged as the new leader for the 'Dogs. She competed at No. 1 in singles and doubles season and went 18-6 overall in sin- gles and undefeat- ed in singles and doubles for WAC play. She for the laced with All-Ameri - cans; seven individual national title appearanc- es for play- ers under his supervision; nine reached a No. 55 ITA National Ranking. In the NCAA Tournament against No. 20 Notre Dame she earned the first set victory over No. 5 Kristy Frilling until the match was clinched. She made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament where she fell to No. 46 Alexandra Poorta of Saint Mary's in a close match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (16-14). Dur- ing the season, she also beat UNLV's No. 68 Lucia Batta, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2, No. 74 Stephanie Hoffpauir from USD, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 18 Mari Anderson from No. 10 California, 5-7, 6-3, 1-0(8). She and partner Laura Pola defeated the No. 34 doubles team from Pepperdine, 8-2. Jodoin advanced to the Round of 32 in singles in the ITA Northwest Regional to finish off the fall season. She was named the WAC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, honored in the WAC All-Tournament team in singles and doubles, named first team All-WAC in singles and doubles, named WAC Player of the Month for October and awarded WAC Player of the Week three times. The team reached a No. 59 ranking in ITA nation- al polls. The 'Dogs went 11-14 overall despite having a tough schedule facing teams like No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 California. They were victori- ous against No. 26 University of Arizona and went undefeated in WAC play. In the WAC Tournament they went 3-0 with wins over No. 70 Boise State, 4-3, Nevada, 4-3, and Louisiana Tech, 4-0. The team's ninth win in 10 years was earned by solid performances by Marianne Jodoin, Melissa Mc- Queen and Laura Pola, who clinched the WAC title for the second time in three years. The 'Dogs finished their season by advancing to the first round of the NCAA tournament and had a match close against No. 20 Notre Dame the team was up in three matches as The Fight Irish clinched the win, 4-0. In the 2010 season, Anastasia Petukhova, one of Thibodeau's top players before getting injured to the upper body, had great fall results, beating No. 1 NCAA Maria Mosolova of Northwestern, reach- ing quarter final at ITA indoors champs at Yale and winning the All-American consolation bracket, de- feating in straight sets many top 20 ranked oppo- nents. After the fall, Anastasia ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation in singles. There was much improvement with a new and young team. Some of the players were affected with injuries, Petukhova in spring and Renata Kucerkova in the fall. The Bulldogs played prob- ably their toughest schedule in years and trav- eled a lot. Many of the players received some valuable experience from it. .................................................... PERSONAL FRESNO STATE SEASON WITH THE BULLDOGS: NINTH DATE HIRED: SEPT. 2003 .................................................... BIRTHDATE: MAY 28, 1973 HOMETOWN: REPENTIGNY, QUEBEC CHILD: CAMELIA BLUE .................................................... EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATE: UNIVERSITY OF SHERBROOKE (QUEBEC), .................................................... COACHING EXPERIENCE B.A. IN SCIENCE/PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (1997) PLAYING EXPERIENCE COLLEGIATE EXPERIENCE: CANADIAN JUNIORS TOP 10 .................................................... • Fresno state, 2003-Present, Head CoaCH • arizona, 2000-03, assistant CoaCH • arizona, 2001, interim Head CoaCH • Canadian tennis Federation, 1997-01, NATIONAL COACH • international tennis aCademy (delray BeaCH, FLA.), 1996, COACH ................................................... WAC COACH OF THE YEAR, 2004, 06, 07, 08, 09 ACCOLADES HEAD COACH ......................................NINTH YEAR were close to winning their 9th consecutive WAC Championship. Kucerkova and Petukhova were named All-WAC Tournament Team in singles. The doubles teams, Laura Pola/Kucerkova and Petuk- hova/ Julia Gragera-Cano were named All-WAC tournament team. Succeeding on the courts, as well in the class- room, women's tennis has a long standing tradi- tion of academic excellence. Kucerkova, Pola, Bianca Modoc and McQueen earned Academic All-WAC honors for the 2010 season. Thibodeau ended the season with some of his team ranked in the top Final ITA Tennis singles and doubles. Petukhova finished the season at No. 19 in the nation and defeated seven ranked oppo- nents. Kucerkova was also ranked in the Top 100 singles at No. 97 and was also ranked in doubles at No. 47 with partner Pola. In 2009, Fresno State added more team and indi- vidual trophies to the case including Thibodeau's WAC Coach of the Year. They continue their reign atop the WAC, by their eighth-straight WAC Championships. They were also the first-ever WAC regular season champions, after going 8-0 against conference foes and outscoring them by a com- bined 54-2. The Bulldogs also ad- vanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the fourth-consecutive year. The Fresno State doubles tandem of Anastasia Petuk- hova and Renata Kucerkova advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Tournament, to earn All-American hon- In the WAC Tournament, with solid perfor- mances by Kucerkova, Bianca Modoc and Melissa McQueen going undefeated, the Dogs ors for the second-straight year. The pair also ended the season ranked No. 1 in the ITA Tennis Rankings and earned the 2009 ITA Doubles Team of the Year award. The 2009 season also saw the commencement of the Melanie Gloria era at Fresno State, as she won her fourth WAC Player of the Year, climbed to No. 2 on the school wins list with 123, played in her fourth NCAA Singles Tournament and was named the 2009 ITA Northwest Region Senior Player of the Year. During the 2008 fall season Thibodeau guided Kucerkova and Petukhova to the ITA National In- doors doubles championship, the Northwest re- gional doubles titles and the All-American doubles final. Gloria also triumphed in the Northwest Re- gional singles championship. The Bulldogs enjoyed another great season in 2008. Thibodeau led the Bulldogs to a 22-8 re- cord and their fourth overall appearance in the NCAA Round of 16. Fresno State won the WAC for the seventh-straight year, eighth overall. Under Thibodeau, Gloria and Tinesta Rowe reached No. 1 in the national doubles rankings and earned a spot in the finals of the 2008 NCAA doubles cham- pionship. Four Bulldogs earned All-American hon- ors last season and Thibodeau also helped Fresno State host the NCAA first and second rounds for the second time. Thibodeau continued to help the Bulldogs com- pete with the nation's elite in 2007. Fresno State finished 2007 with a 22-4 record as they won another WAC title and reached the NCAA Round of 16. Gloria, a sopho- more at the time reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA singles Championship. The 2006 season was also a year to be re- membered. The Bulldogs won the WAC title again. The Bulldogs went to Berkeley, Calif., for the NCAA Regional and beat Sacramento State and California, just as they did in 2004. This time it was not a singles player reaching the NCAA final, but doubles tandem Lucia Sainz and Katarina Winterhalter. Thibodeau's dynamic duo finished the season ranked No. 6 in the country with a Northwest Regional champion- ship and appearances in the ITA All-American and NCAA Doubles finals. In 2005, Thibodeau willed his team to yet another suc- cessful year. Despite 2011 22 2012 23 WOMEN'S TENNIS