On Senior Day, Buffs Fall 4-2 To No. 42 Oregon

BOULDER – It was senior day here on a beautiful day at the CU South Tennis Complex, and while the Colorado women's tennis team dropped their final home match of the season against the No. 42 University of Oregon Ducks 4-2, the Buffs lone senior Nuria Ormeño Ruiz put together a solid final match getting herself a senior day victory.

The loss is the Buffs sixth straight, and it drops their record to 9-11 (1-8 Pac-12). As for the Ducks the win lifts their record to 12-9 (5-4 Pac-12).

What Happened: Oregon came out and quickly snagged the doubles point, as the Buffs' struggles in the doubles continued.

At the No. 2 spot the Buff pairing of sophomores Annabelle Andrinopoulos and Brigitte Beck dropped their match against the Oregon pair of Alyssa Tobita and Rifanty Kahfiani 6-3. The Buff pair fell behind 5-1, before making it tough for the two Ducks to finish them off. But the Oregon pair held serve and took the first match for Oregon to start doubles play.

Oregon quickly clinched the doubles point at the No. 1 spot when the Duck grouping of Shweta Sangwan and Julia Eshet defeated the CU pairing of junior Louise Ronaldson and freshman Chloe Hule 6-4. The Buff pairing made it a match throughout not letting the Oregon women pull away easily but in the end, it wasn't enough as the Oregon group finished off the Buff pairing.

The first domino in singles fell at the No. 2 spot when Oregon's Tobita defeated CU's Ronaldson in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to give the Ducks the first point in singles and a 2-0 lead in the match.

CU got on the board at the No. 3 spot when Andrinopoulos handled her opponent in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, beating Oregon's Tia Rose. Andrinopoulos handled the match from start to finish maintaining control throughout to give the Buffs their first point of the match.

With the match sitting at 2-1, two out of the three remaining matches were in the third set while the No. 6 position was tied at 5-5 in the second set, positioning CU to compete all the way until the end.

On her special day, Ruiz struggled through her first set against Oregon's Sangwan, before collecting herself heading into the second set.

"The first set I was a little bit rusty," said Ruiz. "But I began to play better getting more solid as I went along. I think it was partly mental because I've been injured the last couple of weeks, but I hung in their strong."

Ruiz's trademark determination reared its head, and after the first set she wouldn't be denied one last victory at home, coming back from the first set loss to win the next two to take the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

"Today, Nuria put forth the best attitude she could have to give herself the best opportunity to win," said CU head coach Nicole Kenneally. "I told her before the match that she had the ability to win and she went out and took it."

Ruiz snaps her own two-match losing streak with the win and it raises her season record to 19-13, and that win when combined with her career doubles wins moves her into sole position of 12th place on CU's all-time combined wins list.

"Seeing down the line that my teammates were doing so well, I think that helped as well," said Ruiz. "I was looking around and they were fighting, which is great and I think seeing my teammates out there competing, helped get me the win today."

At the No. 6 spot CU's Beck put up a fight in her match against Oregon's Daniela Nasser before dropping it 6-2, 7-5. Beck pushed the second set to 5-5 before Nasser pulled away to get the win and put the matches' overall score at 3-2.

The Buffs pushed both final matches to three sets, and would not go down without a fight. But at the No. 4 spot, Oregon's Eshet outlasted CU junior Kyra Wojcik 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to give Oregon the final point that they needed to finish off the match and take the victory 4-2.

Quoteworthy:
(CU Head Coach Nicole Kenneally)
On the Match: "Oregon has had a great year and has put up some really good wins within the conference. So we knew going into the day, that we were going to have a battle. We talked about discipline, attitude and competing. Today overall, we did our best to do everything we talked about. And to keep getting better we need to do that consistently and we've been doing that during the last several matches. For us to be in it at the end when it came down to the last two matches, after losing three first sets is great. That just shows the progress that we've made. We've got to keep pushing and we've got to keep pushing ourselves."
On Nuria Ormeño Ruiz: "Nuria has been playing with injury, but she's been doing what every coach would like from her senior. She's going out there and she's been really leading her teammates. She's showing how you can keep working to get it done. She's won a lot of matches here and she's put her heart, soul and mind into her tennis the last four years. I couldn't ask anything more of her. She's always gone out and given 100 percent."
On Next Match Against Utah: "We've had some great battles with Utah the last several years but we haven't walked away with a win. They're a great team from top to bottom and it's going to be about us showing up to compete and winning the tough points."

(Senior Nuria Ormeño Ruiz)
On Her Match Today: "Before starting the match, we all knew that it would be a tough match because they've had a great season. So, it was tough to go out and play number one because technically you're playing the best player on their team. The first set I was a little bit rusty, but I began to play better getting more solid as I went along. I think it was partly mental because I've been injured the last couple of weeks, but I hung in their strong. I was looking around and my teammates were fighting, and even though we didn't get the outcome we wanted today, we fought a lot today and competed which is great."
On Her Time at CU: "It's been great here at CU. I've been blessed to compete here and it's great to have a team that's behind me and that wants to do well. Along with the coaching staff that has always supported me. I'm really proud to say that I've played at the University of Colorado."

Next Up: This Saturday, on April 22, Colorado makes the short trip over the Rocky's to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes, for their final match of the season. Check with Twitter for live stat and match start time updates.

No. 42 Oregon 4, Colorado 2
April 16, 2017 at CU South Tennis Complex
Singles:
1. Nuria Ormeño Ruiz (CU) def. Shweta Sangwan (UO) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
2. Alyssa Tobita (UO) def. Louise Ronaldson (CU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Annabelle Andrinopoulos (CU) def. Nia Rose (UO) 6-3, 6-3
4. Julia Eshet (UO) def. Kyra Wojcik (CU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
5. Chloe Hule (CU) v. Marlou Kluiving (UO) DNF
6. Daniela Nasser (UO) def. Brigitte Beck (CU) 6-2, 7-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1, 6, 4*
Doubles:
1. Shweta Sangwan/Julia Eshet (UO) def. Louise Ronaldson/Chloe Hule (CU) 6-4
2. Alyssa Tobita/Rifanty Kahfiani (UO) def. Annabelle Andrinopoulos/Brigitte Beck (CU) 6-3
3. Kyra Wojcik/Ilana Oleynik (CU) v. Marlou Kluiving/Nia Rose (UO) DNF
Order of Finish: 2, 1*
Records:
CU: 9-11 (1-8 Pac-12)
UO: 12-9 (5-4 Pac-12)

Twitter: @CUBuffsTennis
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Players Mentioned

Annabelle Andrinopoulos

Brigitte Beck

Chloe Hule

Ilana Oleynik

Nuria Ormeño Ruiz

Louise Ronaldson

Kyra Wojcik