Colorado Back on the Courts

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes Tennis team returns to the courts for their fall tour which includes six tournaments all across the country, starting in California on September 21 with the Battle of the Bay and the San Diego UTSA Intercollegiate Classic.

After a season of many "first since" for the Buffs starting with winning 13 dual matches which was more than any season in the last 16 years, dating back to a 16-8 record in the 2006-07 season. The success in the regular season gave way for the first postseason appearance since 2007 and postseason win since 1998.
To name a few of the other milestones that were accomplished last season, the Buffs defeated No. 16 Washington for only the second win against a team ranked No.16 or higher in the last 16 years. Antonia Balzert became only the third Buff to be named Pac-12 player of the week and the first since 2019. All of the accomplishments led to the first Pac-12 tournament win in school history with a 4-2 upset win over Oregon in the first round.

As Colorado looks to move forward towards the 2023 fall tour the Buffs return seven of the eight players from last year's team led by All-Pac-12 honorable mentions Aya El Sayed and Betina Tokac. El Sayed primarily played at No. 4 singles, posting a 14-2 dual match record for the season, the second-best winning percentage in CU history in dual matches. She won 12 straight matches, going undefeated in February, March and April and was a perfect 5-0 in Pac-12 matches. Tokac won 14 singles and 12 doubles matches for the Buffaloes, playing predominantly at No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles with Ellie Puzak.

The returners don't stop with El Sayed and Tokac, the Buffs bring back 81% of the singles wins and 68% of the doubles win from a season ago. Returners include sophomore Carri Hayes, fifth year senior Ellen Puzak, junior Mila Stanojevic, and fifth year senior Elys Ventura.

Even with seven returners head coach Anthony Pham is excited to welcome three talented freshmen to the team: Ema Bubalo, Willow Gretsch, and Pia Rebec. "The first couple weeks of practice has been great, they've worked hard and they are fitting in well," Pham commented on the freshman. "The upperclassmen are really doing a good job of getting them on board with practice standards and how we conduct things on and off the court, culturally they're a great fit. We are still getting them used to playing together with their other teammates.

In the fall 2023 tour Pham and the team is ramping up for some exciting opportunities to compete in tournament across the country. The first three tournaments will be the team will send different groups to each to get the experience of playing with different partners in doubles as well as different competition before coming back together for the final two stops of the fall.

The season start out west on September 21-24 at the Battle at the Bay for the third consecutive year, Pham will be taking senior Aya El Sayed and junior Mila Stanojevic. El Sayed in her first action as a Buff a year ago took home the consolation title which proved to be sign of things to come as the season progressed.

Ath the same time assistant coach Blake Mosely will take Hayes, Pia Rebec, Betina Tokac, and Ventura to the San Diego UTSA Intercollegiate Classic. Last year this tournament proved to be a valuable learning experience for the team as they moved through the season.

"It's going to be good competition for both groups going to San Franciso and San Diego," Pham said on the tournaments this weekend. "We have high expectations, but the fall is a big developmental period for us. We're going to ask them to play with some different in doubles. In singles there's things that we've tasked them with trying to improve their games. The biggest focus is to obviously be successful, but the bigger picture is to be doing the right things and getting better, controlling the controllables."

The following weekend the team will stay in state to participate in the Colorado State Invite, September 29-October 1. Freshman Ema Bubalo, freshman Willow Gretsch, sophomore Anya Nelson, and graduate student Ellen Puzak will get their first opportunity of the fall to compete.

After a week off the Buffs will get back on the court on October 11-15 in Salt Lake City, Utah for the ITA Mountain Region Championships. The Buffs had some success in this event last season with doubles duo Stanojevic and Ventura making the semifinals. The team as a whole won 14 matches, eight singles and six doubles matches.

Then to close out the fall tour the team will travel back out west to San Diego, Calif. on November 3-5 to compete in the San Diego State Invitational. This will be the first time competing in this tournament since 2018 where the Buffs took third place in both singles and doubles action.

The Buffs will look to continue the momentum from last season into this season to keep the program on an upward trajectory going into dual matches starting in January.

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Players Mentioned

Antonia Balzert

Ema Bubalo

Aya El Sayed

Willow Gretsch

Carri Hayes

Anya Nelson

Ellen Puzak

Pia Rebec

Mila Stanojevic

Betina Tokac

Elys Ventura