Mountain West Championship: No. 7 Fresno State (10-12, 4-4 MW) vs No. 10 Utah State (4-16, 1-9 MW)
Wed. Apr. 24 - Fri. Apr. 27, 2024 | 10:00 a.m. PT | Darling Tennis Center | Las Vegas, Nev.
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CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BRACKET | TICKETS
FRESNO, Calif.- Fresno State women's tennis team is bound for Las Vegas for the 2024 Mountain West Championships. The tournament will begin on Wednesday, April 24 and the championship match will be played on Saturday, Apr. 27 at 11:00 a.m. PT at the Darling Tennis Center.
BULLDOG BONES
Fresno State enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed holding a 10-12, 4-4 MW record
Fresno State has only seen two championship conference appearances seeded lower than No. 7, last season seeded 10th and in 2019 seeded 9th
Bulldogs conclude conference play missing a few matches to their record after seeing two matches canceled due to inclement weather (New Mexico and Nevada)
Both seniors Carolina Piferi and Misaki Kobayshi secured points for the 'Dogs in the final home match of the season against san Jose State; Piferi earned her 18th win of the season at No. 3 singles while Kobayashi clinched the win for Fresno
Senior Carolina Piferi logs her 18th singles win this season (8-0 MW), looking to reach a 20 win season by the end of the tournament
Freshman Hannah Pieper has the second most singles wins at 8 with two conference wins
On the doubles side, Piferi and Dunbar come in at 8-5, 3-3 MW, followed by Magrini and Kobayashi at 4-8, 1-8 MW
Magrini/Kobayashi earned their first conference doubles win against San Jose
Expected lineup for the opening round; Matilde Magrini, Misaki Kobayashi, Carolina Piferi, Charlotte Gisclon, Mariya Vyshkina and Hannah Pieper
Fresno State saw two players earn MW Weekly honors with Carolina Piferi's Player of the Week (Feb. 28) and Eliza Dunbar's Freshman of the Week (Mar. 27)
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Since joining the conference in 2013, Fresno State is tied with San Diego State for the second most championships titles in conference history at two, while UNLV leads with seven.
Bulldogs' most recent claim to a title was during the 2022 season as the 'Dogs grabbed the regular season championship after going 10-0 in conference play. Fresno State's two tournament wins were in 2014 and 2018.
Last time out, Bulldogs defeated Nevada as the No. 10 seed in the opening round, 4-2. In the opening round Bulldogs started with the lead sealing the doubles point while Piferi, Jittakoat and Nonnis Marzano each earned singles points. Fresno State was eliminated in the quarterfinals by then No. 2 UNLV, 4-1, with Jittakoat settling on the lone point.
BY THE NUMBERS
4 - Number of times entering as the No. 1 seed
3 - Number of Championship match appearances
2 - Number of opening round appearances
ONE MORE MEETING WITH THE AGGIES
Bulldogs faced the Aggies on home territory to open conference play this season. 'Dogs took down the Aggies in a clean 4-0 sweep, with Carolina Piferi, Misaki Kobayashi and Charlotte Gisclon grabbing singles points.
Bulldogs' will meet the Aggies for the third time at the tournament and Fresno State holds a 2-0 record against Utah State at MWC.
MOUNTAIN WEST HONORS
In celebration of the Mountain West's 25th anniversary, the conference has selected 25 singles players and five doubles pairs.
Current Bulldogs Jittakoat and Magrini were one out of five doubles pairs selected. The pair have earned a series of accolades together; qualifying for the 2023 NCAA doubles round of 32, competed in the ITA All-American Championships, finished the 2023 season ranked No. 42 and named All-MW Doubles (2x).
Jittakoat played two seasons at Washington State before transferring to Fresno State in 2022. In her time as a Bulldog Jittakoat earned back-to-back Player of the Year nods, three-time Player of the Week (2022) and was named All-MW singles and doubles (2x).
Former Bulldog, Watts, played from 2012-2015. Watts was named MW Player of the Year in 2015, has earned 77 career singles wins and 61 career doubles wins, was named to All-MW singles & doubles teams three years straight