SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's tennis made a valiant effort but their comeback bid fell short, losing 5-2 to Fresno State in a four-hour contest on Saturday.  The Broncos trailed 3-2 and were ahead in the third set of the remaining two matches but the Bulldogs (1-2) came out victorious in both including the clincher Carolina Piferi.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Piferi defeated Velizara Fileva 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on court four coming back from down 4-1 in the final set. 
• Santa Clara played from behind all afteroon dropping the doubles point in a pair of tightly contested battles.  Varya Zlotnik and Finley Kalinic lost 6-4 to Eliza Dunbar and Piferi on court two followed by a tiebreaker loss, 7-6 (7-2) by Gabriela Tevez and Kacey Feng to Charlotte Giscion and Hannah Pieper on court three. 
• The Broncos picked up their two points on singles victories by Zlotnik and JennaMarie Gordon.  Zlotnik downed Pieper 6-3, 6-4 to close the team score to 2-1 and Gordon beat Matilde Magrini 6-3, 6-3 to get the Broncos to 3-2. 
• Santa Clara (1-1) was poised to even the match at 3-all but Piferi shut down the Bronco hopes with her three-set victory to clinch the match. 

RESULTS:

Fresno State 5, Santa Clara 2
1/27/2024 at Santa Clara, Calif. (Degheri Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. JennaMarie Gordon (SCUWTEN) def. Matilde Magrini (FSWTEN) 6-3, 6-3
2. Misaki Kobayashi (FSWTEN) def. Finley Kalinic (SCUWTEN) 6-4, 6-2
3. Carolina Piferi (FSWTEN) def. Velizara Fileva (SCUWTEN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
4. Mariya Vyshkina (FSWTEN) def. Gabriela Tevez (SCUWTEN) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
5. Varya Zlotnik (SCUWTEN) def. Hannah Pieper (FSWTEN) 6-3, 6-4
6. Eliza Dunbar (FSWTEN) def. Maria Antonova (SCUWTEN) 6-1, 7-5

Doubles competition
1. JennaMarie Gordon/Velizara Fileva (SCUWTEN) vs. Misaki Kobayashi/Matilde Magrini (FSWTEN) 6-5, unfinished
2. Eliza Dunbar/Carolina Piferi (FSWTEN) def. Varya Zlotnik/Finley Kalinic (SCUWTEN) 6-4
3. Charlotte Gisclon/Hannah Pieper (FSWTEN) def. Gabriela Tevez/Kacey Feng (SCUWTEN) 7-6 (7-2)

Match Notes
Fresno State 1-2
Santa Clara 1-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,5,6,1,3,4)

NEXT UP:

• The Broncos host Portland State on Friday.  First serve is at 11 a.m. inside the Degheri Tennis Center.  

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