The Colorado Buffaloes women’s tennis team narrowly lost to Kansas State, 4-3, in their Big 12 home opener on Friday night in Boulder. The Buffaloes now have a 9-4 record overall and are 1-2 in conference play, while the Wildcats improved to 5-4 and 2-1 in the Big 12.
“Credit to K-State,” said head coach Anthony Pham. “We gave ourselves a chance tonight. I’ve said it before, depth is a strength of this team, and we needed it tonight. Every match in the Big 12 is like this. I told the team; we have to keep competing and learn quickly. The worst thing you can do is lose and not learn from it, that’s the biggest message to the team.”
In doubles competition, Lera Alexin and Rixt van der Werff secured a win at No. 2 doubles, extending their winning streak to 11 matches and improving their dual record to 8-0 this season.
Despite ultimately losing the match, Colorado earned three victories in singles play. Alexin won her singles match at No. 4, followed by wins from van der Werff at No. 2 and Aya El Sayed at No. 1.
The doubles point was decided after Alexin and van der Werff’s victory was offset by losses at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles for Colorado.
In singles action, Alexin defeated Diana Smolinska in straight sets to tie the score early on. Kansas State regained the lead with Aleksandra Kyselova’s win over Pia Rebec but van der Werff tied it again for Colorado with her victory over Martaa Chogsomjav.
Kansas State went ahead once more when Varvara Bernovich beat Anya Nelson at No. 5 singles, but El Sayed kept Colorado’s hopes alive by defeating Maralgoo Chogsomjav in three sets at the top spot.
The deciding match came down to court six where Heidi Crncan faced Zhanel Rustemova of Kansas State. Rustemova won in straight sets to secure the overall victory for the Wildcats.
“We’re disappointed,” Pham said after the match, “but not disappointed in the fight and how we competed. Heidi battled, this is her first dual match in the Big 12, it’s a tough position to be in as a freshman, but she’ll grow from it.”
Colorado will continue its weekend schedule with another home conference matchup against No. 24 Oklahoma State on Sunday at The Meadows Club starting at 10:30 a.m.
Additional notes include that Colorado has accumulated over 100 career dual victories as a team in singles play and surpassed forty such wins this season alone. Alexin has achieved her fifteenth singles win of the year—her tenth during dual matches—and has won seven of her last eight contests. Van der Werff recorded her first Big 12 singles win of this season after two unfinished matches previously, while El Sayed improved her career conference record to nine wins and eight losses.
