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Buffs Take Down Liberty, Advance To Title Match

by CUBuffs.com
May 7, 2024

BRADENTON, Fla. – The Colorado Buffaloes women's tennis team defeated Liberty 4-1 to advance to the championship match of the UTR Tennis NIT Championship.  The Buffs will play Tulsa after its 4-3 win over West Virgina in the final match of the day. 

Mila Stanojevic and Elys Ventura were key in the match, dominating at No. 2 doubles 6-2 and then book ending the singles wins to secure the win for the Buffaloes. Alexandra Abysaova won at No. 5 singles, between them to put the Buffs up 3-1 before Ventura closed it out.

Doubles was intense, and after Stanojevic and Ventura won easily, the other two matches went into a tiebreaker.  Down 6-3 in that tiebreaker, Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson rattled off five straight points to take the doubles point and put the Buffs up 1-0. 

 "Conditions were tough again, playing in the dead of the day starting at three o'clock at 90 degrees and humid again the ladies battled their hearts out," head coach Anthony Pham said. "The doubles win was huge we had two tiebreakers at No. 1 and No. 3, that was big for us. In singles we just got after it, I thought we did a good job today of problem solving and making adjustments. Really proud of the team, we have to get ready to play a good team tomorrow."

UP NEXT
The Buffs advance to the NIT Championship and will take on the winner of West Virginia and Tulsa Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. MT.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Stanojevic and Ventura made quick work of Daniella O'Neill and Maria Turchetto at No. 2 doubles, winning 6-2.
  • El Sayed and Rebec and Bubalo and Nelson both went into a tiebreaker, and both ended at essentially the same time, as El Sayed and Rebec lost 7-4 in their tiebreaker moments after Bubalo and Nelson won 8-6.  Bubalo and Nelson were down 6-3 in that tiebreaker and scored five straight points to take the doubles point, giving CU a 1-0 lead.  
  • As singles began it was Stanojevic who clinched yesterday's match against St. Mary's who got the action started by taking the first set 6-1. In the second set Stanojevic was tied 3-3 with Esther Lovato before taking the final three games to clinch the first singles match and give CU a 2-0 lead.
  • The Flames scored their only point of the match of the day at No. 1 singles from Maria Parra Romero. Romero took down El Sayed 6-1, 6-3 to close the gap to 2-1.
  • At No. 5 singles Abyasova battled throughout the match taking the first set 6-3 over Maria Turchetto. In the second set Abyasova ran out to a 4-0 lead before finishing it off 6-2 and a 3-1 lead for the Buffs.
  • In the clinching match Ventura was back-and-forth with Liberty's Tiffany Nguyen, but at the end of each set Ventura found a way to finish on top winning 6-4, 6-4.

NOTES

  • Win the win, CU now has 14 wins on the season, the most since 2002-03, or 21 seasons.
  • CU has won two postseason matches for the second straight year, a first in program history. 
  • This is the third win for Anthony Pham beyond conference championships and he now has three of the four such wins in school history.
  • CU improves to 13-0 against teams outside the Pac-12 this season.  
  • Stanojevic improves to 14-6 at No. 3 singles and in dual matches and 11-0 outside of Pac-12 opponents.  She is now 20-12 this season.
  • Abyasova improves to 6-3 at No. 5 singles and is 6-6 in dual matches, including a 6-1 mark outside the Pac-12.
  • Stanojevic and Ventura improve to 12-6 at No. 2 singles and 14-8 overall this season.
  • Bubalo and Nelson improve to 11-6 at No. 3 and in dual and overall.  

 RESULTS
No. 1 Colorado 4, No. 4 Liberty 1
May 7, 2024
Bradenton, Fla. (IMG Academy)
Doubles
  1.   Nguyen/Parra Romero (LU) def. No. 59 El Sayed/Rebec (CU), 7-6 (4)
  2.   No. 118 Stanojevic/Ventura (CU) def. O'Neill/Turchetto (LU), 6-2
  3.   Bubalo/Nelson (CU) def. Daavettila/Lovato (LU) 7-6 (6)
Order of Finish: (2,3*)

Singles
   1.   Maria Parra Romero (LU) def. Aya El Sayed (CU) 6-1, 6-3
   2.   Elys Ventura (CU) def. Tiffany Nguyen (LU) 6-4, 6-4
   3.   Mila Stanojevic (CU) def. Esther Lovato (LU) 6-1, 6-3
   4.   Betina Tokac (CU) vs. Daniella O'Neill (LU) 6-4, 6-6(2), unf.
   5.   Alexandra Abyasova (CU) def. Maria Carolina Ferreira Turchetto (LU) 6-3, 6-2
   6.   Pia Rebec (CU) vs. Sadie Daavettila 7-6(3), 5-3, unf.
Order of Finish: (3, 1, 5, 2*)
 

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