Colorado Opens Season At The Battle In The Bay

BOULDER – Colorado tennis will send four student-athletes to the Battle In The Bay Classic hosted by the University of San Francisco Thursday, Sept. 16, through Sunday, Sept. 19, at the California Tennis Club.
 
Teams attending include USC, Pepperdine, Georgia, San Diego, VCU, Pacific, Wisconsin, Kansas and USF. All players will compete in a singles and doubles tournament for NCAA Division I ranking status. The winner of the women's event will receive a main draw wild card to the Berkeley WTA singles main draw and the Rancho Santa Fe WTA challenger singles main draw. The doubles winner may earn wild cards to women's professional tournaments but are not guaranteed.
 
The singles tournament is made up of 32 players sorted by UTR rankings while the doubles will have 16 teams. Colorado will send Maria Campos, Sophia Derivan, Megan Forster and Caroline Pozo to compete with Forster and Pozo as one doubles team and Campos and Derivan forming the second.
 
The Buffs are coming off a 9-12 season that included an upset of No.12 Cal at home. After the departure of former head coach Danielle Steinberg, former associate head coach Anthony Pham was promoted to head coach in July. The team lost a pair of athletes but added three in Pozo, Betina Tokac and Mila Stanojevic.
 
Forster led the team last season with 12 wins in 17 matches. Campos was second on the team with 11 wins and became the first athlete in CU history to compete and win at all six singles positions in a season. Derivan has a strong campaign with an 8-3 record but was hindered by injuries. Pozo had a 12-5 individual record last season at Northwestern and went 9-1 in doubles.
 
The tournament will feature 16 ranked athletes in the ITA Preseason Polls. Georgia owns the only individual on the newcomer list while Pepperdine boasts five individuals. There are six ranked doubles pairs, including a pair from both Georgia and Pepperdine.