Colorado Tennis duo falls short in Battle in the Bay semifinal
The Colorado Buffaloes sent junior Lera Alexin and senior Ema Bubalo to San Francisco, California, for the Battle in the Bay Classic. The duo upset the No. 31 duo in the nation to reach the semifinals after falling short in the first round of the singles draw.
In the doubles draw, Alexin and Bubalo started the tournament with a bang, beating the Pepperdine Waves’ duo of Alexia Harmon and Chantal Sauvant 8-4. Harmon and Sauvant hold the No. 31 spot on ITA’s doubles rankings and were the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
The next match was back-and-forth against the USC Trojans’ Simone Kay and Kiara Zabkova until the match was stuck at 7-7 and forced into a tiebreaker. Alexin and Bubalo finally pulled ahead to win it 8-6, claiming a spot in the semifinals.
Finally, CU’s duo met its match in the semifinals against the nation’s No. 24 duo and the tournament’s No. 2 seed, the Georgia Bulldogs’ Patricija Paukstyte and Nadia Lagaev. The teams were trading blows the whole match, with CU taking the first game before trailing 3-1 and then tying it at 5-5. The set had to go to a tiebreaker, where the Buffs fell 7-3.
In the singles draw, Bubalo fell to the consolation bracket, losing to fifth-seeded California Golden Bears freshman Nika Hurkacz 6-3 and 6-0.
Alexin joined her. Despite forcing a third set, she dropped the match to fourth-seeded Ava Krug in a 6-1, 4-6 and 6-2 split.
Alexin’s weekend as a solo player continued the next day against the Loyola Marymount Lions’ Ada Piestrzynska. Alexin was slow out of the gate, losing the first set 6-1, but bounced back to win a 7-5 tiebreaker in set two. Finally, Piestrzynska got the edge in the match tiebreaker, winning 10-7.
Bubalo’s day two match against the Purdue Boilermakers’ Nehir Dogan followed a similar path. She fell 6-1 in the first set, took the second set tiebreaker 12-10 and finally captured the match tiebreaker 10-8.
On the final day of the tournament, Alexin couldn’t keep up with Kay, losing 6-0 and 7-6 (5). Meanwhile, Bubalo had to retire mid-match against the Charlotte 49ers’ Yelyzaveta Chainykova in the consolation quarterfinal.
"That was a high-level doubles match today," said CU head coach Anthony Pham. "It was well played by both teams, and we unfortunately came out on the short end. Our doubles play overall was very solid. Served as great preparation for the upcoming regional tournament."
The Battle in the Bay did more than just help prepare Alexin and Bubalo for the regional tournament; it proved that the newly formed doubles pairing is capable of leading the team come spring.
Up next for the Buffs is the ITA Mountain Regionals starting on Oct. 13.
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