Hopefully the loss suffered by Colorado’s tennis team Friday night, against the Utah Utes, is no indication of their performance in the Pac-12 next year.
At The Meadows Club in Boulder on Friday night, the No.72 Buffaloes could not hold on against the No.48 Utes, their future Pac-12 conference opponents. Utah’s 5-1 win marked its first against Colorado in four matches.
The Utes won the doubles point with victories in the No.1 and No.2 positions. Utah’s No.49 ranked duo Putilina/Miles defeated CU’s junior Michala Hedelund Jensen and senior Abbie Probert, 8-3 and Utah’s Kryuchkova/Kovarcikova overcame CU’s junior Ania Anuszkiewicz and freshman Kristina Schleich, 8-5.
At the No.3 position, Buffs freshmen Winde Janssens and Carla Manzi Tenorio defeated Pham/Provancha, 8-2, in their first ever dual match victory.
The teams then headed into singles play with the Utes at a 1-0 lead. At the No.3 position, CU freshman Kristina Schleich secured the only singles victory for CU, defeating Utah’s Lucia Kovarcikova, 6-4, 6-0 and bringing the overall score to a 1-1 tie. The victory marked Schleich’s tenth overall, making her second on the team for overall wins.
Following Schleich’s victory, the Buffs fell in the next three of five matches in straight sets. The only other CU win came from junior Hedelund Jensen, who defeated No.60 ranked Evgenia Kryuchkova in her first set, 1-6. Jensen then fell in the next two sets against Kryuchkova, 6-2, 6-4, marking her first match loss since October.
The Utes lead the overall series against the Buffs, 12-10. CU, now at 1-2 overall, will take on Metro State next Sunday, Feb. 13 at the Pinehurst Country Club.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Caryn.maconi@colorado.edu.
