Buffaloes Down No. 71 Iowa

BOULDER – The Colorado women's tennis team defeated No.71-ranked Iowa 4-1 here Sunday afternoon for its fourth-straight victory.
 
The Buffaloes (4-3) picked up the first ranked win under head coach Anthony Pham after securing the doubles point in a tiebreak set over Iowa (4-4) and closing out with three of the first four matches.
 
Mila Stanojevic and Antonia Balzert teamed up and took the first doubles match in the No.2 position 6-4. After Megan Forster and Ky Ecton fell 6-3 in the No.3 doubles match it all came down to Caroline Pozo and Maria Campos in the No.1 doubles match.
 
Pozo and Campos fought to a 5-4 lead before dropping the next two games. The Buffs took a quick 40-0 lead and tied things up off Pozo's serve and force a tiebreak. The teams fought to a 3-3 tie before Iowa took a crucial 6-5 lead. Iowa double faulted and returned the serve to Colorado at 6-6 where Pozo finished it off with a pair of aces to close out the match and win the doubles point.
 
After clinching the doubles point, Campos made quick work in the No.3 singles match by taking down Michelle Bacalla 6-3, 6-4 and give CU a 2-0 advantage.
 
Pozo and Balzert battled back in the No.1 and No.3 singles matches, respectfully, after each dropped the first set 6-4. They both rallied in the second to take those sets by a score of 6-3. Heading into the third set, Balzert took a 2-0 lead on Samantha Maddix while Pozo was down 2-0 to Marisa Schmidt. Balzert went down 5-4 but dominated the next game with a 40-0 advantage before tying it up 5-5. The next game made it to 40-40 when her opponent double faulted to give Balzert the lead, and it was all smooth sailing from there to a 7-5 victory in the No.2 singles match and a 3-0 lead. Pozo finished the match with a 6-1 third set loss to give Iowa its first point.
 
The deciding match fell to Forster in the No.4 singles match. Forster, who celebrated her 22nd birthday today, took the first set on Samantha Gillis 6-3, then dominated the second to a 6-0 win to clinch the victory.
 
Due to travel time, the final two matches were abandoned with both Stanojevic and Betina Tokac up a set in the No.5 and No.6 singles matches, respectfully.
 
Colorado heads into Pac-12 play on a four-match win streak and will be tested when No.56-ranked UCLA comes to town Friday at 1 p.m. followed by No.12 USC Sunday at 10 a.m. This will be the first trip to Boulder for the L.A. schools since 2018, and the Buffs have never defeated either team with a combined 0-22 record.
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Anthony Pham
On The Ranked Win
I'm happy for the ladies. We had a tough start to the year, we played three ranked teams and were competitive but couldn't push through and I feel like we're starting to kind of hit our stride. It's good to see the team push through today because it was a complete total team effort.
 
On Having The Team Healthy
At the end of the day, we're trying to find four points. We have nine members on the team and we feel confident each and every one of them can go out and play. But it was nice to have Maria and Megan back healthy. We feel that we have a lot of depth on the team and today, it helped.
 
On What Win Means For Pac-12 Play
I think it just continues to give us some belief. Iowa was a good team. For us, the focus is on us doing the right things over and over and getting into good habits. It gives us some validity to what we're doing.
 
RESULTS
 
Colorado 4, #71 Iowa 1
 
Singles competition
1. Marisa Schmidt (IOWA) def. Caroline Pozo (COLO) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
2. Antonia Balzert (COLO) def. Samantha Mannix (IOWA) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. Maria Campos (COLO) def. Michelle Bacalla (IOWA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Megan Forster (COLO) def. Samantha Gillis (IOWA) 6-3, 6-0
5. Mila Stanojevic (COLO) vs. Vipasha Mehra (IOWA) 7-5, 2-4, unfinished
6. Betina Tokac (COLO) vs. Barboro Pokorna (IOWA) 6-3, 2-1, unfinished
 
Doubles competition
1. Caroline Pozo/Maria Campos (COLO) def. Samantha Mannix/Vipasha Mehra (IOWA) 7-6 (8-6)
2. Antonia Balzert/Mila Stanojevic (COLO) def. Samantha Gillis/Marisa Schmidt (IOWA) 6-4
3. Michelle Bacalla/Barboro Pokorna (IOWA) def. Megan Forster/Ky Ecton (COLO) 6-3
 
Match Notes:
Iowa 4-4; National ranking #71
Colorado 4-3
 
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,1,2,4)