Buffs Extend Season with Second Straight NIT Bid

BOULDER – For the second straight year the Colorado Buffaloes tennis team accepted a bid to compete in the 2024 UTR Sports NIT Championship May 5-8 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida while being aired on Amazon Prime Video. This marks the first time since 1999 that Colorado made the postseason in consecutive seasons.

All matches for both men and women will be streamed by Amazon Prime and available to regular Prime subscribers at no additional cost. Colorado will join Appalachian State, Liberty, Pacific, Saint Mary's, Tulsa, West Virginia, and Wyoming in Florida. Colorado will take on Saint Mary's in the first round on May 6.

The 2024 UTR Sports NIT Championship is in just the second year after the inaugural event last year in Georgia where the Buffs made their first postseason appearance since going to the NCAA tournament in 2007.

There Colorado won the first postseason match with a 4-1 win over Cal Poly in the first round since 1998.

This is the Buff's second postseason appearance since 2007 and tenth appearance beyond a conference tournament in program history, with two AIAW appearances in 1980 and '81, six NCAA Tournament appearances in 1996, '97, '98, '99, 2003, and '07, as well as last year's trip to the NIT.

Colorado enters the NIT with a 12-10 record after having the season marked by two different streaks. Early in the season, the Buffs went on an eleven-match win streak throughout no conference play and the first conference match of the season against Oregon. But the latter half of the season ended on a nine-match losing streak in Pac-12 conference play.

Despite how the season ended the Buffs season had plenty of moments to remember and milestones made. Four different Buffs ended up in the individual ITA rankings this season, Aya El Sayed in singles, Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson in doubles, and El Sayed and Pia Rebec as well in doubles who are still currently ranked No. 54.

As a team, Colorado was in the ITA rankings seven times the most regular season appearances since 2015.

The Buffs have leaned on El Sayed and Mila Stanojevic heavily this season with the two leading the team in total wins with 34 from El Sayed and 33 from Stanojevic.

Other Buffs that they will look to count on next week are Alexandra Abyasova and Betina Tokac in singles as well as Bubalo and Nelson in doubles. Elys Ventura who is third on the team in wins this season will be a major factor at both No. 2 singles and No. 2 singles.

"We are excited to be able to participate in postseason play in the UTR NIT tournament," head coach Anthony Pham said. "Our team is eager to get down to Florida and compete and end the season on a high note. This is a good opportunity for us to play and use this as a springboard going into next season."

The NIT Championship is the National Invitational Tennis Championship. The exclusive postseason tournament welcomes eight of the top men's and women's college tennis teams from across the country to compete for the NIT Championship titles. The tournament allows men's and women's teams to gain valuable postseason experience. The teams are selected to participate by the NIT Championship tournament committee, with the teams' UTR Power 6 ranking among the top criteria for consideration.