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Buffs Beat St. Mary’s, Advance To NIT Semifinals

by CUBuffs.com
May 6, 2024

BRADENTON, Fla. – Colorado's Mila Stanojevic came back from a 5-2 deficit in her second set to win in a tiebreaker and clinch the match as the Buffaloes defeated St. Mary's 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the UTR Tennis NIT Championship Monday at IMG Academy.  

CU won the doubles point with Anya Nelson and Ema Bubalo quickly winning 6-1 and Stanojevic and Elys Ventura following shortly after with a 6-2 win.  Then in singles, the Buffs and Gaels split the first set three apiece as Stanjoevic, Betina Tokac and Pia Rebec all won their first sets while Aya El Sayed, Ventura and Alexandra Abyasova each fell in their first set.  

"We knew St. Mary's is a good team and they're going to battle," CU coach Anthony Pham said. "I'm proud of our team, it was a full team effort.  For us, we haven't played in these conditions all year, it's 85 degrees, hot, humid, our team did a good job of managing matches and when we got down, we hung in there and battled today." 

Tokac made quick work of Tian Yu Dong at No. 4, winning the second set and giving the Buffs a 2-0 lead.  Rebec followed close at No. 6, blanking Madison Weekly 6-0 in the second set to give the Buffs a 3-0 lead in the match.  
For the briefest of moments, it looked like it could go down to the wire.  El Sayed had rebounded to win her second set 6-3 but Stanojevic fell behind 5-2 in her second set.  Stanojevic battled back, eventually forcing a tiebreaker with Juliette Daries and after falling behind 4-2 in that tiebreaker, she won five of the final six points to take the set, match and clinch the match for the team.  

All three Buffs who fell in their first set also battled hard in their second set.  Along with El Sayed's win in the second set, Ventura was down 4-0 but was tied 5-5 when play was called and Abyasova had pulled even in her second set at 3-3 when the Buffs clinched.  

"We talked about that all year, today it was personified, you hang around and battle, and make them work," Pham said.  "Elys was down 4-0 in the second and brought it back to 5-5.  Mila was down 5-2 and in her second.  I'm proud of the team's resilience and credit to Pia and Betina for taking care of their courts, that gave the team a boost of confidence.  We also did a good job in doubles at two and three doubles of playing our brand of tennis." 

UP NEXT

The Buffs advance to the semifinals and will face fourth-seeded Liberty, who defeated Appalachian State, 4-3, in the second match of the day.  The match is expected to start at 12:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday.  

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • It only took 26 minutes for Bubalo and Nelson to dispatch of MiaAngelina Ruja and Weekley, 6-1.
  • Five minutes later, the Buffs took the doubles point as Stanojevic and Ventura defeated Daries and Dong, 6-2. 
  • El Sayed and Rebec were up 4-3 on Iman Kahl and Olivia Rook when the point was clinched and play suspended. 
  • Tokac needed just an hour and 10 minutes to beat Dong, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 4 singles to give CU a 2-0 lead in the match. 
  • About 11 minutes later, Rebec closed out Weekley 6-3, 6-0, at No. 6 singles, giving CU a 3-0 lead.  
  • As Rebec won, Stanojevic had come back from being down 5-2 to tie her second set at 5-5.  In the next 20 minutes, she fell behind 6-5, but won at deuce in the next game to force the tiebreaker, where she fell behind 4-2 but won 7-5 to clinch the match.  
  • El Sayed had won her second set 6-3 after falling in the first set and was down 2-1 when play was called.  Ventura was down 4-0 but had tied her second set at 5-5 and Abyasova was also on the up swing in her second set, tied 3-3 when play was called. 

NOTES

  • The Buffs advance to the semifinals of the UTR Tennis NIT for the second straight season.  The two wins are two of the three in CU history in a non-conference tournament post season match.  Pham has now coached CU in two of those three wins in CU history, with the other coming 26 years ago in 1998 with a 5-1 win over Utah in the NCAA Tournament.  
  • CU matches its team win total of last year with 13 wins, the most since the 2006-07 team collected 16 wins.  The 26 wins in back-to-back seasons are the most since 28 wins from 2006-07 (16) and 2007-08 (12). 
  • The Buffs improve to 12-0 against teams outside the Pac-12 Conference this season. 
  • Bubalo and Nelson improve to 10-6 at No. 3 doubles and 5-2 against non-conference teams. 
  • Stanojevic and Ventura improve to 13-8 on the season, including 12-6 in dual matches and 11-6 at No. 2, including a 8-2 record against non-conference foes.  They are now 31-19 as a duo in their careers. 
  • Tokac improves to 11-5 at No. 4 singles and is now 9-1 against non-conference opponents.  She is now 13-11 overall on the season.  
  • Rebec improves to 5-4 at No. 6 singles and 7-7 in dual matches, winning her 10th singles match of the year overall.  
  • Stanojevic improves to 14-6 in dual matches, all at No. 3, and is now 11-0 against non-conference opponents in dual matches this year.  She is now 19-12 overall this season. 

RESULTS
No. 1 Colorado 4, No. 8 St. Mary's 0
May 6, 2024
Bradenton, Fla. (IMG Academy)

Doubles
    1.    No. 59 El Sayed/Rebec (CU) vs. Khan/Rook, (SMC) 3-4 unf.
    2.    No. 118 Stanojevic/Ventura (CU) def. Daries/Dong (SMC) 6-2
     3.    Bubalo/Nelson (CU) def. Ruia/Weekley (SMC) 6-1
Order of Finish: (3,2*)

Singles
    1.    Aya El Sayed (CU) vs. Iman Kahl (SMC) 3-6, 6-3, 1-2 unf.
    2.    Elys Ventura (CU) vs. MiaAngelina Ruja (SMC) 2-6, 5-5 unf.
    3.    Mila Stanojevic (CU) def. Juliette Daries (SMC) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
    4.    Betina Tokac (CU) def. Tian Yu Dong (SMC) 6-3, 6-3
    5.    Alex Abyasova (CU) vs. Olivia Rook (SMC) 2-6, 3-3 unf.
    6.    Pia Rebec (CU) def. Madison Weekley (SMC) 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish: (4, 6, 3*)
 

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