After clinching her set and helping the Bulldogs get a match win over Wyoming on Saturday, sophomore Carolina Piferi was put in the same position on Sunday against Colorado State.
The Italian native has no fear in these clutch moments and was the deciding factor in earning a 4-1 match win for the Fresno State women’s tennis team again on Sunday.
Piferi easily won both of her sets on the No. 6 by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 over CSU’s Sarah Weekley
“That was the second clinch for me in conference, so it’s really nice having all the girls cheer for you and to be the deciding game. It’s just amazing claiming it for your team, so it’s really nice,” Piferi said.
The doubles matches started off the day on a high note for the Bulldogs as they were able to take the doubles point, winning 2-of-3 matches over the Rams.
Doubles partners on Court 1, Pang Jittakoat and Matilde Magrini took care of their opponents Matea Mihaljevic and Radka Buzkova winning 6-2.
On Court 3, doubles partners A.C. Hummel and Cristina Flaquer won their match 6-2 as well over Colorado State’s Tracy Guo and Sarah Weekley, clinching the doubles points for the Bulldogs.
As the team headed to singles, the Bulldogs’ lineup included Jittakoat at No. 1, Magrini at No. 2, Flaquer at No. 3, A.C. Hummel at No. 4, Carlotta Nonnis Marzano at No. 5 and Piferi at No. 6.
Flaquer, a junior from Spain, finished off her singles match first for the Bulldogs earning them their first point, handily winning both of her sets 6-4 and 6-2 on Court 3.
Finishing right behind her was Jittakoat, beating Colorado State’s Buzkova in dominant fashion with scores of 6-3 and 6-2.
The junior from Thailand has been the Bulldogs No. 1 for the entire season and has been dominant throughout. Jittakoat said she doesn’t want all the spotlight on her, noting her confidence in her team.
“I feel pretty confident with the team, not just with myself, I think we are a really good team and all of my teammates really support me and help me to get better. Also, when I play it feels like I need to put one point on the board to help get my teammates more confidence to help win the match,” Jittakoat said.
The Bulldogs improved to 12-3 overall on the season, and Jittakoat talked about their mindset going forward after a good start to their conference season this weekend.
“We just want to keep going on and keep improving, even though it’s not at the end of the season yet, but we still want to keep going on and hope to win more matches,” Jittakoat said.
Head coach Denise Dy said these games were crucial victories, especially with CSU beating Colorado — a PAC12 school— earlier this year, and Wyoming — which the Bulldogs lost to last season.
Dy said that she is really proud of the hard work that the team has put in and it is a great feeling to start off conference winning like this.
“I think that it is obviously a great feeling to start off 2-0 in conference. I think that it really shows how much hard work this team has put in and it just shows for itself,” she said.
Dy also mentioned that Fresno State is going to have a very tough match coming up against San Diego State next weekend.
“Next weekend, we have a very tough weekend against San Diego State who has an all-American on the singles side, and UNLV, who has always been a very big tennis school. I am looking forward to those two matches. I think we can do well next weekend and have a great shot to go all the way but, yeah, it’s gonna be hard. We have to go one match at a time,” she said.
The Bulldogs will host UNLV and San Diego State next weekend at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center. Saturday’s match against UNLV is currently scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s match against San Diego State will be at 2 p.m. as well.
