CU tennis lose to Nebraska at Big 12 Championships

At least the CU tennis team can say it made the record books.

In the first round of the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas, the Buffs lost their final match of the season against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

On Thursday at the Baylor Tennis Center at Baylor University, the Cornhuskers swept the Buffs, 4-0.

The loss, which puts their record at 3-19 overall, also gives this season’s Buffs three school records: the longest-ever losing streak at 16, the most losses in a season at 19, and the first time the team has ever gone winless in conference play (0-11).

Nebraska was not an easy competitor to face in the last match of such a trying season. Ranked No. 41 nationally, the Cornhuskers now have a 5-game winning streak against the Buffs, including a 7-0 sweep on April 20 in Boulder.

The two teams are now tied in their all-time series, 18-18. Thursday marked the end of that series as the Buffs move to the Pac-12 and the Cornhuskers to the Big Ten next year.

With several injuries plaguing the team this season, Colorado’s freshmen, including Carla Manzi Tenorio, Winde Janssens, Kristina Schleich, and Kristina Barber, were forced to step up.

Schleich was CU’s leading scorer against Nebraska, winning eight dual match singles victories. Junior Michala Hedelund Jensen and freshmen Janssens and Tenorio each had five.

“Sometimes it is hard to see what happens behind the scenes from the win-loss column,” head coach Nicole Kenneally said in a news release. “But I am extremely proud of everything they have put forward.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Caryn Maconi at [email protected].