Buffs Travel to Utah for Final Regular Season Match
BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes tennis team closes out the regular season with a road match against No. 51 Utah at noon on Saturday at the George Eccles Tennis Center.
The Buffs closed out the home portion of their schedule last week with visits from Arizona and Arizona State. In those matches, the Buffs uncharacteristically struggled in doubles action, losing both points and while both matches saw some good singles battles, the Buffs fell in both matches.
"We were we were flat in doubles," head coach Anthony Pham said on doubles play. I think our energy wasn't great and our play kind of suffered because of it. But I think in a lot of situations too we missed a lot of balls that we're normally accustomed to making. I think it's just one of those things where we're trying to watch film with the team and make sure that we are doing the right things again, and making sure that we are just playing our brand of tennis whenever when it comes to doubles."
Despite the recent team struggles, Aya El Sayed and Pia Rebec continue to be recognized for individual success. The duo remains ranked in the most recent ITA poll coming in at No. 69 in doubles. This is the first time a pairing has been ranked in consecutive weeks since 2010.
Against the Sun Devils, the Buffs celebrated senior day and both Alexandra Abyasova and Elys Ventura were fighting third-set battles when the match was called with ASU up 4-0. Now, the two will play in their final collegiate regular season matches.
"The team is really eager this week to play against Utah," Ventura said going into the last regular season match. "Last year we lost 3-4 to them in a really tight match, so the team is really looking forward to this opportunity. I feel confident about our team, we have been practicing hard and hungry to compete and finish the regular season off."
After Utah, the Buffs will head to Ojai, Calif., for the final Pac-12 Championships, and the Buffs will look to end a seven-match losing streak before embarking on the postseason.
"We want to play better in doubles, which we know we are capable of," Pham commented. "In singles, we did a lot of good things in a lot of matches. Elys had a good weekend. I think this time of year we have played a lot of matches and Utah is a good opportunity to make sure we go into the Pac-12 tournament with some good momentum. We've tried to wipe the slate clean, Utah is a good standalone match, but whatever happens, we have to get our mindset right to be ready for the Pac-12 tournament."