The No. 66 Colorado Buffaloes women’s tennis team is preparing to host its last two regular season matches against No. 34 Baylor and No. 20 Texas Christian University (TCU) at the Meadows Club, with matches scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.
These final home games mark a significant moment for the team as they look to end their regular season on a strong note and honor their senior players. The Buffs are coming off an away weekend where they faced Arizona and Arizona State, narrowly losing to Arizona in a close match that ended in a tiebreaker, 4-3.
“Just like everyone else in the Big 12, these are two great teams,” said head coach Anthony Pham. “The results show that there is so much talent in our conference, and that any given day anyone can beat anyone.”
Colorado will first face Baylor on Thursday, holding a historical series record of six wins and seventeen losses against them. Their last encounter was in March of the previous year when Colorado lost to Baylor with a score of 4-2 in Waco. The Buffs are aiming for their first victory over Baylor since 2006, when they won at home with a score of 5-2.
Baylor enters the match with an overall record of twelve wins and seven losses this season, including seven wins within the conference. The Bears have secured three ranked victories this year and feature two ranked singles players: Na Dong (No. 61), who has an eleven-win singles record primarily at the top spot; and Zuzanna Kubacha (No. 114), who holds fourteen singles victories mostly at position number two.
On Saturday, Colorado will play TCU—a team they have faced only four times since 1978 without recording a win against them yet. TCU comes into Boulder after winning all four previous encounters between these teams; most recently defeating Colorado last March in Fort Worth by a score of 4-0.
TCU currently holds sixteen wins out of nineteen matches this season—including nine conference victories—and has achieved seven ranked wins such as their sweep over then-No.6 Arizona State University earlier this year. Their roster includes Raquel Caballero Chica (No.83), who has won seven out of ten singles matches from her top position slot.
“Match to match, week to week, everything is a little different,” Pham said about preparing for senior weekend competition at home before adding: “It’s our last two home matches, we have senior day, and we want to send off our seniors the right way. They’ve poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this team, and we want to give them the send out they deserve.”
Both contests begin at 2 p.m., with Thursday’s match featuring Baylor followed by Saturday’s matchup against TCU which will also include celebrations honoring seniors Anya Nelson and Rixt van der Werff.
