Colorado Upsets No.28 Washington State

Sunday, March 10

Boulder, Colo.

10:00 AM

Colorado

Washington State

Photo by: Tony Harman

March 10, 2019 | Tennis

Box Score

Nayar leads with top-40 singles upset

By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's tennis team picked up their first Pac-12 victory with a 4-3 upset of No.28-ranked Washington State Sunday afternoon in the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center.

This was the first ranked win for the program under the direction of head coach Danielle Steinberg, as well as the first ranked win since defeating No.41 Oregon in 2016. It is also the first top-30 win since 2007. Colorado improves to 7-7 this season while Washington State falls to 13-4.

"I think the best thing for me today was it was such a team," said Steinberg. "I think it was probably the first time since the beginning of the year that we played from top to bottom as a team. That means you finish your match and you go get involved in someone else's match and you want your teammates to win so badly, doesn't matter how your match went. We have been trying to work on it from the beginning of the year. We are such a young team and it takes time to learn that. You could tell today, they wanted it so bad and they wanted it for their teammates which was the best part."

Freshman Sara Nayar picked up one of the most crucial matches of the dual with a three-set victory in the No.1 singles match against No.38-ranked Michaela Bayerlova. Nayar jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead in the first set and traded games to close out the set 6-3. The second set was grueling and came down to a tiebreaker. Nayar went down 5-3 in the set and jumped out to a 6-5 lead while facing a 40-40 set point at 5-4. Bayerlova tied up the games and sent it to a tiebreaker and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. Nayar responded to tie it at 2-2, but then could never tie it back up. In the third set, Nayar powered to a 5-1 lead before relenting a second game to Bayerlova. She closed out the match with a 6-2 victory in the third set.

"With a 4-3 score obviously it was very crucial," said Steinberg on Nayar. "As I said Friday, she has all the tools, she has it in her hands, she has the physical part, she knows her game. It's just a matter of putting everything together and staying there for a full match. I was proud of her, today in the third set she could've backed away from a tough match but she stuck with it and that was probably the first time she has this year. I am hoping we can take it and learn from it."

"I had no idea that she was top-40, I don't really want to think about the rankings and get psyched out," said Nayar. "There is definitely a lot of pressure playing at No.1. I tell Belle and Monica all the time that I don't know if I should be here and they are so supportive and tell me I deserve it. There is a lot of pressure because you feel like you are leading the team and the girls are just very supportive of me. I feel like I did my part, but I love that we got the doubles point. All the girls stayed there and supported each other and did everything we could. It feels great to have a win like this."

That wasn't the only win for Nayar as she joined Megan Forster and picked up the first doubles victory in the No.2 doubles match by defeating the duo of Melisa Ates and Yang Lee 6-2. The victory clinched the doubles team point after Tallulah Farrow and Ky Ecton dominated a Cougar tandem in the No.3 doubles match by a score of 6-0.

"We've been working on doubles a lot," said Steinberg. "We made those changes on Friday and I liked what I saw. I think Friday gave us a lot of confidence and going toe-to-toe with a top-ranked team, all of a sudden we believe we could do it. Even though we lost Friday it was a big match for us seeing that we can play with these teams and these girls. Today we came out so confident and really didn't even give Washington State a chance to get into it."

Colorado was strong top-to-bottom in the doubles matches with Monica Malinen and Annabelle Andrinopoulos battling to a 4-4 tie in the No.1 doubles match against the No.71-ranked team of Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato.

Andrinopoulos got things going for CU with a two-set victory in the No.2 singles match. She quickly took the first set against Hikaru Sato with a 6-2 win. Sato responded and Andrinopoulos faced set-point down 5-4 and down in the game 40-0. The senior buckled down and battled back to win the game and push to a 5-5 tie. Each individual won another game before heading to a tiebreaker where Andrinopoulos got a quick 3-0 lead. Sato fought to a pair of tied, but at 5-5 Andrinopoulos took charge and pushed to a 7-5 tiebreaker win for the match.

"Belle didn't play Pac-12 last year because of injury so I don't know the last time she got a Pac-12 win," said Steinberg. "It means a ton to her and she was ecstatic after the match. She has the tools it is just the matter of putting it together and staying for a full match and she was able to do that today. It was awesome."

With a tied team score following losses in the No.3, No. 4 and No.6 singles matches, the dual came down to Farrow against Ates in the No.5 singles match. Farrow picked up a close first set victory at 6-4 as the dual was still in favor of Colorado, but by the time the second set began Colorado held a slim 3-2 lead in the team score. Tallulah pushed forward and clinched the upset with a 6-2 second set win.

Also for Colorado, Malinen had a roller coaster of a match after dropping the first set 6-1 and winning the second by the same score. She pushed a 5-4 third set to a 40-40 game, but sent a shot down the line that came up just wide to lose the No.3 singles match. Megan Forster had a close first set that went to a tiebreaker in the No.4 position, but fell in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-2. Ecton also had difficulties, losing the No.6 singles match 6-1, 6-2.

"This win brings confidence," said Steinberg. "Because we are such a young team they went into the season not knowing how good they are, who they should beat and who they shouldn't beat. From now on every team we play against we know we have a chance, especially at home. It is no secret we have a huge home advantage that we need to take advantage of."

The Buffaloes return to action next weekend against in-state rivals Colorado State for the final non-conference competition of the season. The match begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 16 in Fort Collins.

RESULTS:
Singles:
No.1 Sara Nayar (CU) def. #38 Michaela Bayerlova (WSU) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2
No.2 Annabelle Andrinopoulos def. Hikaru Sato 6-2, 7-6 (5)
No.3 Tiffany Mylonas (WSU) def. Monica Malinen (CU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-4
No.4 Aneta Miksovska (WSU) def. Megan Forster (CU) 7-6(5), 6-2
No.5 Tallulah Farrow (CU) def. Melisa Ates (WSU) 6-4, 6-2
No.6 Yang Lee (WSU) def. Ky Ecton (CU) 6-1, 6-2

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 6, 4, 5

Doubles:
No.1 Malinen/Andrinopoulos (CU) vs. #71 Mylonas/Sato (WSU) 4-4, unfinished
No.2 Nayar/Forster (CU) def. Ates/Lee (WSU) 6-2
No.3 Farrow/Ecton (CU) def. Miksovska/Knezevic (WSU) 6-0

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1 unfinished