Colorado
Southern California
Buffs Fall to No. 10 USC 4-0
March 14, 2014 | Tennis
BOULDER—For a brief moment the unprecedented was well within their grasp. But, instead of making history the 2014 Buffs became the victims of it on Friday, continuing a disturbing trend that has now spanned more than 18 years.
25 times the Buffs have gone up against a team that was ranked in the top 10 nationally and Friday marked the 25th time they have come up short as they fell to the 10th ranked USC Trojans 4-0 at the South Campus Tennis Complex.
The match began promisingly enough as the duo of Nuria Ormeno Ruiz and Winde Janssens won the first doubles match of the afternoon (8-5) over USC's Brynn Boren and Kaitlyn Christian. CU then came up just short in losing the final two contests as USC bounced back to steal the afternoon's doubles point. That momentum USC gained then carried over to the remainder of the day's action as the Trojans won the first three singles matches which ultimately gave them the victory.
“USC is a very good team and the fact that we came out and we really competed with them right down the line is something positive that we can definitely take away from all this,” said head coach Nicole Kenneally. “It would have been nice to have gotten that doubles point. That really changed the energy going into the singles. I think we're going to learn a lot from what happened today which will help us for Sunday.”
Sunday will bring yet another opportunity to break the 0-25 all-time record against top 10 teams as top-ranked UCLA comes to town. The task of righting the ship in time to upset the 12-1 Bruins seems like a monumental one but Kenneally is confident her team has the talent and the will to pull off the upset.
“I think it's just going to be about finding that balance and knowing exactly where your game is,” said Kenneally. “We have to play aggressive but also we have to stay within ourselves. I think sometimes there is that mentality when you're playing these bigger teams to try to do too much. But, you have to continue to play within yourself.”
The loss drops the Buffs to 0-3 in Pac-12 play and with games against three of the nation's top 16 teams (#1 UCLA, #16 California, and #4 Stanford) during the remainder of their home stand, the Buffs know they can't linger too long on what transpired Friday.
“We had our chances during the doubles and we just have to keep building on what went right,” said Kenneally. “We wanted it too bad and tried too hard which aren't bad things. Those are good qualities that a team can have but, when we find that balance then we'll continue to give ourselves a chance in big time matches like this.”
The chances Kenneally spoke of took place during those final two tightly contested doubles matches which became a remainder to everyone watching that the difference between winning and losing, even when the final tally was as lopsided as this one, can be razor thin. After Ruiz and Janssens took the first doubles match, Julyette Steur and Ashley Tiefel came up just short as they fell (8-7, 7-5). The misfortune then continued into the final as Carla Manzi Tenorio and Alex Aiello lost a heartbreaking (8-7) tie-break and USC took the doubles point.
The singles portion of the match began with Tiefel falling (6-1, 6-4) to Kaitlyn Christian. Then Aiello lost (6-4, 6-0) to Brynn Boren and Steur fell (6-1, 6-4) to Zoe Scandalis and CU's quick start had vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. The match was called at that point as USC had already clinched victory.
The best performance from the singles competition came from the seasoned veteran Tenorio, who led her match (6-3, 1-2) when play was stopped. She was the only Buff who had a lead in a singles match by the end of the afternoon.
“Carla played well,” said Kenneally. “She's very consistent. We just need to build upon what she is doing individually and we'll be ok.”
The match with UCLA will take place Sunday at 10 a.m. at the South Campus Tennis Complex.
Southern California 4, Colorado 0
USC (10-4, 1-0 Pac-12), CU (7-7, 0-3 Pac-12)
Friday, March 14, Boulder Colo.
1d) Ormeno Ruiz/Janssens (CU) def. Boren/Christian (USC) 8-5
2d) Katz/Olmos (USC) def. Manzi Tenorio/Aiello (CU) 8-7 (1)
3d) Scandalis/DeSimone (USC) def. Steur/Tiefel (CU) 8-7 (7-5)
Order of Finish: 1,3,2*
1s) Zoe Scandalis (USC) def. Julyette Steur (CU) 6-1, 6-4
2s) Brynn Boren (USC) def. Alex Aiello (CU) 6-4, 6-0
3s) Giuliana Olmos (USC) vs. Winde Janssens (CU) 6-4, 2-3 (DNF)
4s) Gabriella DeSimone (USC) vs. Nuria Ormeno Ruiz (CU) 6-3, 5-4 (DNF)
5s) Zoe Katz (USC) vs. Carla Manzi Tenorio (CU) 3-6, 1-2 (DNF)
6s) Kaitlyn Christian (USC) def. Ashley Tiefel (CU) 6-0, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6,2,1*
Players Mentioned
