The Colorado Buffaloes women’s tennis team secured two victories on Sunday, defeating both Minnesota and St. Thomas with 4-1 scores during their road trip in Minneapolis.
Head coach Anthony Pham commented on the team’s performance: “Extremely proud of the way our team competed today overall. We played with great energy and showed a ton of poise against a very good Minnesota team.”
The win over Minnesota marked the Gophers’ first loss of the season. Aya El Sayed contributed by winning at the No. 1 singles position against a ranked opponent.
In their match against St. Thomas, Colorado achieved its fifth win this season, claiming straight-set singles victories in every completed match. Each unfinished match was also led by a Colorado player.
“We showed great maturity in being able to turn around get the job done against St Thomas in some challenging conditions,” Pham said. “Playing a double header on the road at two different facilities is never an easy task and our team stepped up and met the challenge today. We took some positive steps today, and we look forward to a getting back to Boulder to prepare for another weekend of challenging matches on the road.”
During doubles play versus Minnesota, Lera Alexin and Rixt van der Werff won 6-1, while El Sayed and Pia Rebec clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory at the top spot.
In singles action, Minnesota’s Jeselle Ante earned a point for her team before El Sayed secured her ranked win over Aiva Schmitz after dropping the first set but winning the next two sets 6-3 each. Alexin then clinched Colorado’s victory by defeating Anlin Xie in three sets.
Against St. Thomas, Willow Gretsch and Heidi Crncan started doubles with a 6-1 win, followed by Lani Brotman and Anya Nelson securing another point at No. 2 doubles.
Heidi Crncan recorded Colorado’s first singles win with a perfect 6-0, 6-0 result at No. 5 singles. Although El Sayed lost her singles match to Emilia Korseth at No. 1, van der Werff and Alexin provided additional wins for Colorado to close out the day.
Following these matches, Colorado will travel again for three more matches starting Friday in Las Vegas where they will face UNLV, Gonzaga, and Utah Tech.
Colorado now leads Minnesota 6-1 in their series history and earned its first-ever victory over St. Thomas during this matchup. Aya El Sayed reached 90 career wins across singles and doubles competition; Rixt van der Werff marked her fifteenth career singles win as well as twentieth in doubles; Lera Alexin was undefeated (2-0) in singles over this weekend’s matches.
