Monday, October 21
Las Cruces, NM
Colorado
vs
Day 5
Bubalo and Nelson Advance to ITA Mountain Regional Doubles Final
October 21, 2024 | Tennis
Duo looks to become CU's 2nd ever doubles regional champions.
LAS CRUCES, NM – Doubles duo Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson won two doubles matches at the ITA Mountain Region Championship Monday morning at the NMSU Tennis Center to clinch a spot in the finals tomorrow.
After having to wait an extra day to continue the doubles tournament Bubalo and Nelson finally retook the court against BYU's Yujia Huang and Kendall Kovick. In a stressful match the duo took a strong 6-3 lead with the match going to eight games. Huang and Kovick stormed back to take a 7-6 lead. Bubalo and Nelson captured the next game to force a tiebreaker to advance. After going back-and-forth, the pairing finished the tiebreaker, winning 8-6 and taking the final spot in the semifinals.
The pair had about a half hour break then they were back on the court vying for a spot in the finals against UNLV's Cindy Hu and Coco Zhao. The match moved to best of three sets and despite the change the duo came out fast. They cruised through the first set winning 6-3 and finished off the match with a 6-4 win in the second set.
This would be the first ITA Regional doubles champion for Colorado since Julyette Steur and Kyra Wojcik in 2014. To do that Bubalo and Nelson will have to defeat Denver's Andrea Beltran and Marley Lambert. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Individual Championships in November.Â
In the singles bracket Mila Stanojevic and Rixt van der Werff competed in the semifinals on opposite sides of the bracket. Stanojevic went first against Zdena Safarova from Boise State and was unable to get her footing in the match falling in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
For Van der Werff after winning the first four matches in straight sets, Denver's Beltran took the match 6-2, 6-1 to knock out Van der Werff.Â
Despite both runs ending in the semifinal, Colorado was the only school with two athletes in the semifinals. With the run the two went on they qualified for the ITA Sectional Tournament November 7-10 at USC.
The lone extra match played today was played by Lera Alexin against New Mexico State's Montana Parkinson. She finished off with a 6-1, 6-0 win to wrap up her tournament.
UP NEXT
Bubalo and Nelson will compete for the ITA Mountain Region Doubles Championship tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. against the No. 6 seeded Beltran and Lambert from Denver. This will be the fifth seeded opponent for the pairing.
RESULTS
Doubles
Quarterfinal
Ema Bubalo/Anya Nelson (CU) def. Yujia Huang/Kendall Kovick (BYU) 8-7 (6)
Semifinal
Ema Bubalo/Anya Nelson (CU) def. Cindy Hu/Coco Zhao (UNLV) 6-3, 6-4
Singles
Semifinal
Andrea Beltran (DEN) def. Rixt van der Werff (CU) 6-2, 6-1
Zdena Safarova (BSU) def. Mila Stanojevic (CU) 6-3, 6-2
Extra Match
Lera Alexin (CU) def. Montana Parkinson (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
Â
After having to wait an extra day to continue the doubles tournament Bubalo and Nelson finally retook the court against BYU's Yujia Huang and Kendall Kovick. In a stressful match the duo took a strong 6-3 lead with the match going to eight games. Huang and Kovick stormed back to take a 7-6 lead. Bubalo and Nelson captured the next game to force a tiebreaker to advance. After going back-and-forth, the pairing finished the tiebreaker, winning 8-6 and taking the final spot in the semifinals.
The pair had about a half hour break then they were back on the court vying for a spot in the finals against UNLV's Cindy Hu and Coco Zhao. The match moved to best of three sets and despite the change the duo came out fast. They cruised through the first set winning 6-3 and finished off the match with a 6-4 win in the second set.
This would be the first ITA Regional doubles champion for Colorado since Julyette Steur and Kyra Wojcik in 2014. To do that Bubalo and Nelson will have to defeat Denver's Andrea Beltran and Marley Lambert. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Individual Championships in November.Â
In the singles bracket Mila Stanojevic and Rixt van der Werff competed in the semifinals on opposite sides of the bracket. Stanojevic went first against Zdena Safarova from Boise State and was unable to get her footing in the match falling in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
For Van der Werff after winning the first four matches in straight sets, Denver's Beltran took the match 6-2, 6-1 to knock out Van der Werff.Â
Despite both runs ending in the semifinal, Colorado was the only school with two athletes in the semifinals. With the run the two went on they qualified for the ITA Sectional Tournament November 7-10 at USC.
The lone extra match played today was played by Lera Alexin against New Mexico State's Montana Parkinson. She finished off with a 6-1, 6-0 win to wrap up her tournament.
UP NEXT
Bubalo and Nelson will compete for the ITA Mountain Region Doubles Championship tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. against the No. 6 seeded Beltran and Lambert from Denver. This will be the fifth seeded opponent for the pairing.
RESULTS
Doubles
Quarterfinal
Ema Bubalo/Anya Nelson (CU) def. Yujia Huang/Kendall Kovick (BYU) 8-7 (6)
Semifinal
Ema Bubalo/Anya Nelson (CU) def. Cindy Hu/Coco Zhao (UNLV) 6-3, 6-4
Singles
Semifinal
Andrea Beltran (DEN) def. Rixt van der Werff (CU) 6-2, 6-1
Zdena Safarova (BSU) def. Mila Stanojevic (CU) 6-3, 6-2
Extra Match
Lera Alexin (CU) def. Montana Parkinson (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
Â
Players Mentioned
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