Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Day Two
CU's Schleich Wins Dramatic Singles Pair
September 24, 2011 | Tennis
Not only did she team up with fellow sophomore Carla Manzi Tenorio during the morning doubles semifinal to claim victory, the German sophomore returned in the late-morning and played in back-to-back three set singles matches against a pair of Wyoming opponents. She rallied from a set down in each match and advanced to Sunday's finals.
Schleich improves to 5-1 this fall season and will face Denver's Madeleine Saari-Bystrom in Sunday's Gold Singles Final.
Day two of the CU Invite was another summer-like day under sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-80s.
Sunday's play will start an hour later than scheduled (10 a.m.). The Buffaloes are hosting Arkansas, Denver, and Wyoming.
"I was really impressed today," said CU head coach Nicole Kenneally. "Our day today was better than yesterday competitively, just as the way we fought. I'm really proud of the girls. We had several players today with 'Buffalo Warrior' performances and it was great to end the day on Krissi's tie-breaker win."
After Schleich and Manzi Tenorio defeated Arkansas' Stephanie Roy and Emily Carbone, 8-5 Saturday morning to reach the Silver Doubles Final, their third straight win, Schleich then played the first of her three set matches.
First, she defeated Wyoming's Jessica Parizher, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, then with a half hour break in between matches, Schleich came back and defeated another Cowgirl Simona Synkova, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
In the final set, Schleich rallied from a 5-4 deficit to even the score at 5-5. After both players held their own serve forcing the final tie-breaker, Schleich was once again trailing 3-2 until she unleashed a rocket ace to even the tie-breaker at 3-all. From there, the ace proved to be the spark she needed, then she subsequently won the next four points and a 7-3 tie-breaker triumph.
"I had great support from the team and they made feel a little more comfortable," Schleich said of her teammates who were cheering and encouraging her on. "That made me play better, because they were talking to me throughout the match."
The pair of victories improves her fall record to 5-1. It was also her third and fourth career match wins from rallying from a set down.
In other CU singles and doubles matches played, senior Ania Anuszkiewicz defeated Denver's Emma Isberg, 6-3, retired; and Manzi Tenorio defeated Kate Lukomskaya of Arkansas 6-1, 7-5.
Earlier in the day, Lukomskaya rallied from a set down to defeat Anuszkiewicz 4-6, 6-2, 1-0(7); Arkansas' Stephanie Roy defeated both Manzi Tenorio (6-3, 6-0) and redshirt-sophomore Erin Sanders (6-0, 6-0); and Wyoming's Szandi Kovacs defeated Sanders, 6-3, 6-1.
In doubles, Sanders and Anuszkiewicz lost to Rath/Boboc of Denver, 8-4.
Sunday is the final day of the CU invitational with random backdraw singles and doubles matches scheduled with the exception of the main draw finals. Gold Singles Final: Schleich versus DU's Madeleine Saari-Bystrom; Silver Doubles Final: Manzi Tenorio/Schleich against Lukomskaya and Claudine Paulson of Arkansas; Silver Doubles Backdraw: Kovacs/Nemcova (Wyoming) versus Najera-Salas/Schnell (Denver).
