Three up, three down as Colorado tennis sweeps Pioneer Hidden Dual Tournament

Junior Willow Gretsch helped Colorado Buffaloes tennis sweep the Pioneer Hidden Dual in Denver this past weekend. (Photo by Kekoa Brown/Sko Buffs Sports)

Through three days of competition, the Colorado Buffaloes tennis team experimented with new doubles pairings while still capturing wins over Wyoming, Weber State and the University of Denver at the Pioneer Hidden Dual Tournament. 

Friday pitted Wyoming versus Colorado. The Buffs won nine of 12 matches, going 2-for-2 in doubles matches on the day. Outside of the No. 1 doubles pairing, Rixt van der Werff and Lera Alexin, every other duo played together for the first time this year. 

Van der Werff lost the No. 1 singles match in straight sets, but she was the only one to fall, as every other Buff won their matches. Six of the wins came in straight sets, with only Yukiko Ikedo needing three to defeat Wyoming’s Ruby Young at the No. 6 singles slot.

On Saturday, the Buffs handled business against Weber State, going 2-for-2 in doubles and 4-for-5 singles matches against the Wildcats. 

Van der Werff and Alexin won their No. 1 doubles match 6-2, while Pia Rebec and Anya Nelson had a flawless 6-0 victory in the No. 2 matchup.

It was a milestone day in singles play, as van der Werff got back into the win column to capture her 10th career singles victory. Rebec only needed two sets to seize her 30th career singles win.

Weber State’s only win against CU was at the No. 8 spot, as Aleksandra Bozinovska took down Willow Gretsch 6-1, 7-6 (7).

Colorado put a bow on the weekend by wrapping up the Pioneers on the last day of play. Despite splitting the doubles matches 2-2, five singles wins made the final score over Denver 7-5.

Freshman duo Lani Brotman and Heidi Crncan made quick work of their competition, winning 6-3 at the No. 3 spot in their first-ever match together. 

After Rebec/Nelson and Gretsch/Ikedo lost their respective matches, it came down to the No. 1 pairing of van der Werff and Alexin, who won 7-6 (10) to even things up before singles play.

Van der Werff and Alexin played three sets in their No. 1 and No. 2 wins, while Rebec, Nelson and Ikedo wrapped things up in two.

"Our big theme across our players is to keep getting better, which I saw today," head coach Anthony Pham said.

The team will have two weeks to practice before heading to Florida for the Bonita Bay Classic on Nov. 7.