Colorado In Los Angeles for Pair of Ranked Duals

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's tennis team heads to Los Angeles this weekend for matches against No.11-ranked USC on Friday at 1:30 p.m. (MT) and No.8 UCLA Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT).

Colorado (10-8, 3-2 Pac-12) has won four of its past five matches, including a win against No.28 Washington State and the second-ever road conference win in the Pac-12 against Arizona. CU begins a five-match streak against ranked teams this weekend and are looking for a good start before hosting No.5 Stanford and No.19 Cal next weekend.

CU is led by Monica Malinen and her 21-7 singles record this season, including 15-3 in duals. She and Annabelle Andrinopoulos have entered the ITA doubles ranking in the 35^th spot after defeating the then-No.2 duo at Arizona State and winning their last three completed doubles matches with a pair of 4-4 unfinished matches included. In the stretch since their loss to the 43^rd ranked duo from Washington, Andrinopoulos and Malinen have led CU to five-straight doubles points.

With her singles victory last weekend Malinen is now tied for 39^th in school history with 21 wins in a season. With at least six matches remaining Malinen has a chance to move to tied for ninth all-time in a season in CU history. Her .750 winning percentage is tied for 15^th in school history in a season, and if she wins out she could end up in the top-10 in season history.

Also for Colorado this season, freshmen Sara Nayar and Megan Forster each have 11 wins in duals this season in singles play. Nayar is 6-4 in the No.1 singles position and has won three of her last five singles matches with an unfinished match against Oregon last weekend. She and Forster have also won four of their last five doubles matches and have a team-best eight wins together.

The Trojans (14-3, 4-1 Pac-12) have won 10 of their last 11 matches including a nine-match streak that was broken against No.5 Stanford in a 4-3 outcome in LA. Their only close match was against ASU in a 4-3 win in Tempe and a 5-2 loss against Cal before opening conference play. USC's only loss outside of Pac-12 opponents came in the beginning of February with a 4-3 loss to SMU in Texas.

USC boasts four ranked singles players and a pair of doubles teams and all six on the team ranked in some aspect. Salma Ewing leads the group as the 43^rd-ranked player, while Angela Kulikov rounds out the top-100 at 87^th. Danielle Wilson is the 122^nd-ranked player with teammate Ana Neffe entering the rankings this week a spot behind at 123. Kulikov joins Rianna Valdes for the 14^th-best doubles pair and USC's final pair of Constance Branstine and Estella Jaeger entered the rankings at 85^th this week.

UCLA (12-4, 4-1 Pac-12) also has a lone Pac-12 loss to Stanford by a score of 4-3. They dominated Cal 6-1 last weekend but have a 0-4 loss to Pepperdine and 1-4 loss to North Carolina this season outside of Pac-12 opponents. The Bruins also played a non-conference dual against USC, losing 4-1. The Bruins have shown they are beatable with a close 4-3 win in Arizona and 4-2 win against ASU.

The Bruins have three ranked singles but have an unprecedented four doubles teams ranked. Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield are the seventh-ranked duo with Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart ranked close behind in 11^th. Abi Altick and Aliana Miller are the 49^th ranked doubles team, giving UCLA six players ranked by the ITA in doubles. The final pair comes with Hart and Broomfield in the 62^nd spot. As singles, Bolton is the 21^st-ranked player with Hart at 41. Altick is ranked 98^th overall.

Colorado returns home next weekend to host Cal at 1:30 p.m. Friday and Stanford Sunday morning at 10 a.m. The Buffs finish the regular season at Utah on April 20^th at 11 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Annabelle Andrinopoulos

Megan Forster

Monica Malinen

Sara Nayar