Colorado Closes Out ITA All-American Championships

TULSA – Colorado women's tennis has a pair of Buffaloes in the 2019 ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting Saturday and running through to the following weekend.

DAY 7
After numerous morning starts, Colorado's Sara Nayar and Monica Malinen had a long wait to take on the No.7-ranked team in the nation in doubles in the quarterfinals. The match kicked off after 6 p.m. in Tulsa under the lights where the Buffs hoped to push their win streak to three-straight. Despite a strong effort, UCF's tandem took the quarterfinal match by a score of 8-5, ending CU's ITA All-American Championships experience.

DAY 6
In the main draw of the doubles tournament Sara Nayar and Monica Malinen found magic as they upset the No.5-ranked doubles pair from Tulsa by a score of 8-7. The team shined against Vera Ploner and Martina Okalova to give CU their second top-five doubles upset this calendar year. Colorado then took on the No.38-ranked duo from Florida State in Victoria Allen and Emmanuelle Salas nearly half an hour after their past match. The Buffs rolled past the Seminoles in an 8-2 victory to move onto the quarterfinals tomorrow where they will take on the No.7-ranked tandem in the nation from UCF.

Today's victories mark the first time in school history a doubles team has won in the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships in school history.

"This tournament is such a challenging one because no matter what draw you get, every round you will play against the best players in the country," said Head Coach Danielle Steinberg. "In singles we played some very tough matches, and even though we saw great improvement from one match to the next we came up short. We play these tournaments so we can challenge and push ourselves in real match situations, and even though we took some loses in singles I still think we learned and improved a lot from those matches."

"Today things finally came together in doubles, and playing against two very good teams we were able to show our real ability. This is Monica and Sara's just second tournament together but their chemistry is incredible and they play like a veteran team. Today was exciting but we are already focused on the quarterfinals tomorrow against UCF."

DAY 5
Match postponed from rain

DAY 4
Nayar competed in the consolation round this morning against No.80-ranked Daevenia Achong of Miami. Despite a 6-4 first set victory for Nayar, the sophomore fell after dropping the second set 6-0 and third 6-3. Nayar and Malinen will compete in the main draw of doubles tomorrow.

DAY 3
No.65 Sara Nayar fell to No.79-ranked Shiori Fukada of Ohio State in the first round of qualifying. She dropped the first set 6-2, then was swept in the second 6-0. The sophomore returns to action tomorrow in the consolation round against No.80 Daevenia Achong of Miami tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. CT.

DAY 2
Consolation Round cancelled due to rain.

DAY 1
Monica Malinen fell to No.116-ranked Cameron Corse of Notre Dame in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Corse continued on with another win. Malinen will take on the other individual ranked No.116 in the nation, Jessica Kerr of Columbia tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. CT in the consolation round. If she advances, she will take on the winner of Washington's Katarina Kopcalic and Princeton's Grace Joyce.

For more information visit the ITA Championships Homepage.

RESULTS
DOUBLES
Main Draw Round One                                No.53 Nayar/Malinen (Colo) def. No.4 Ploner/Okalova (Tulsa) 8-7
Main Draw Round Two                               No.53 Nayar/Malinen (Colo) def. No.38 Allen/Salas (FSU) 8-2
Main Draw Quarterfinal                             No.7 Zeleva/Kuznetsova (UCF) def. No.53 Nayar/Malinen (Colo) 8-5

SINGLES
Qualifying Round One                                No.79 Shiori Fukada (Ohio State) def. No.65 Sara Nayar (Colo) 6-2, 6-0
Qualifying Cons. Round One                        No. 80 Daevenia Achong (Miami) def. No.65 Sara Nayar (Colo) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3

Prequalifying Round One                          #116 Cameron Corse (Notre Dame) def. Monica Malinen (Colo) 6-2, 6-2
Prequalifying Cons. Round One             Monica Malinen (Colo) vs. Jessica Kerr (Columbia) - CANCELLED

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Players Mentioned

Monica Malinen

Sara Nayar