FRESNO, Calif. – Audrey Rafols came through in the clutch to deliver a 4-3 victory to Dominican women's tennis Tuesday over Colorado Mesa at Haak Tennis Center.

"We knew there was a lot on the line for today's match and it was going to take a full team effort," head coach Cristina Visico Hassanali said. "Today was about which team wanted it more and was going to be more resilient. The momentum shifted throughout the entire match, but we did a great job of staying mentally tough and were able to push through the finish line with the W."

The doubles matches set the tone for the entire match as the two teams struggled to gain separation from each other. Julia Rydel and Zoe Coggins held off the Mavericks' (7-11) Halle Romero and Issy Coman for the 6-4 victory at No. 3 doubles to give the Penguins (7-4) the early advantage. Maike Waldburger and Paige Furin responded moments later claiming a 6-4 victory for CMU in No. 2 doubles over Antoinette Schreiber and Haley Garcia to even the match. Rafols and Gina Dudley claimed the deciding point for Dominican 6-4 at No. 1 singles over Macy Richards and Makenna Livingston and the match turned to the singles portion with the Penguins in front 1-0.

Waldburger evened the score in No. 3 singles as Dudley retired early unable to continue from an injury sustained in the doubles portion. Coggins answered for Dominican with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Richards to take back the lead. Romero claimed the first set of No. 4 singles in commanding fashion 6-2, but Rydel was able to answer and take a narrow 6-4 win in the second set to level the match. Rydel took that momentum and did not drop a game in the third set winning 6-0 to put the Penguins a singles victory from claiming the match victory leading 3-1.

The Mavericks battled back as Campos claimed a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles before Livingston won two narrow sets 6-3, 6-4 over Garcia at No. 2 singles to level the team score. All eyes turned to the top court where No. 31 Rafols faced Coman. Coman claimed the opening set 6-3 and had opportunities to close out the CMU victory in the second set but Rafols answered the intensity and they traded to a 6-6 tie. Rafols then narrowly won the tiebreaker 9-7 to send the match to a third set. Rafols rode the momentum to a 6-1 victory in the third set to clinch the victory for Dominican.

"Each team match we are getting more confident as a team," Visico Hassanali said. "Our theme this year is 'Better Together' and today was a perfect example of every player giving 100 percent. It took everything we had today to get the result we wanted."

The Penguins will return home Saturday to take on Fresno Pacific at 1 p.m. PDT at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.