Buffs tennis sweeps IU Indy but falls short to Illinois
INDIANAPOLIS and CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Colorado Buffaloes tennis team (4-1) had a busy weekend in the Midwest. On Saturday, they dominated the IU Indy Jaguars 7-0 but fell short against the Illinois Fighting Illini 2-4 on Sunday.
On Saturday, Colorado had no problem handling IU Indy. Even without its No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Aya El Sayed and Mila Stanojevic, CU won every match in straight sets.
Lera Alexin and Pia Rebec won the No. 2 doubles match quickly with a score of 6-1. Not long after, top doubles duo Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson won their match 6-3.
Anya Nelson took care of business in her first non-tournament singles match, winning 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 5 singles spot. She may not be used to playing singles but was comfortable enough to make quick work of her match.
Rebec wasn’t far behind Nelson. She won her No. 3 singles match 6-2, 6-1. Rebec extended CU’s lead to 3-0.
Betina Tokac was moved up to the No. 1 singles spot for this match, but it didn’t matter to her as she clinched the match for the Buffs with a quick 6-2, 6-2 win.
Alexin won her second match in a row, this time at No. 4 singles, 6-1, 6-1.
Willow Gretsch had a little more trouble than the rest in her season debut. The temporary No. 6 player won her first set 6-1 but had to fight a lot harder for the second one, winning it 7-5 after breaking serve late.
The final match to finish was Bubalo’s No. 2 singles match. She appeared to be running away with it after winning the first set 6-0 but stumbled a little in the second. Her opponent, Emma Dell, battled back to force a second-set tie-breaker. However, Bubalo was able to end the match and complete CU’s 6-0 sweep with a 7-4 victory in the breaker.
Sunday was a different story for the Buffs as they fell 4-2. Illinois came out swinging, taking a 3-0 lead, and the Fighting Illini was able to stave off a comeback from CU.
Illinois set the tone in doubles play, beating Bubalo/Nelson 6-2 and El Sayed/Rebec 6-3.
In her second match at No. 1 singles, Stanojevic suffered her first loss of the season. She lost 6-2, 6-0 to give Illinois a 3-0 lead.
With the match on the line, Rixt van der Werff beat the No. 111 ranked singles player in the country. She dominated the first set and forced a comeback in the second to win 6-2, 7-5.
Tokac forced a close first set but lost 7-5. She responded by winning nine straight games, taking the second 6-0 and leading the third 3-0. Her opponent, Kida Ferrari, took the next four, but Tokac took the set 6-4 and the match.
With the overall score now at 3-2, the comeback looked possible. El Sayed battled her way to win a grueling 9-7 tiebreaker in the first set. However, she couldn’t keep the momentum and lost the match 7-6 (7), 1-6, 3-6, clinching the 4-2 win for Illinois.
Lera Alexin was on serve at 4-4 in the third set before the match was clinched and she was unable to continue.
These two matches were the beginning of a five-match road trip for CU. The team travels to the University of New Mexico on Saturday to take on the Lobos.
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