Buffs Comeback Falls Short Against Utah

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Colorado Buffaloes tennis team's comeback falls short against Utah, losing 4-2 Saturday afternoon at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center in the last match before the start of the Pac-12 Tournament.

In what became a match for the eighth seed in the Pac-12 tournament next week the match came down to the wire.

After taking the doubles point, Colorado (12-9, 1-8) lost the first three singles matches to Utah (11-10, 3-7). Despite a late push behind a win from Mila Stanojevic, it wasn't enough with the Utes clinching the next match.

"The team battled very hard today," head coach Anthony Pham said on the match. "We played a much better doubles point. Singles was a battle and unfortunately we came up short. We'll have a short turnaround with the Pac-12 tournament starting on Wednesday. We will be prepared to fight and battle on Wednesday."

The doubles point was a struggle last weekend for the Buffs against Arizona and Arizona State after leaning on it as a strength for most of the season. Today Mila Stanojevic and Elys Ventura earned their first win since the first conference match of the season against Oregon back in early March. The victory was the duo's 30th together giving them sole position of eighth most in CU history.

The other doubles win came from Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson who earned their ninth win as a pairing in the first season together for them.

The lone singles win of the day came from Stanojevic in straight sets. The victory marked her 17th of the season, good for second on the team.
HOW IT HAPPENED

Stanojevic and Ventura got the afternoon going strong with a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles over Samantha Horwood and Kat Lyman to take an early advantage in doubles.
For Bubalo and Nelson at No. 3 doubles they were in a fight with Sara Akid and Kaila Barksdale, neither able to create any separation leading to a tiebreaker. Much like the rest of the match, the tiebreaker was neck-and-neck. In the end, Bubalo and Nelson clinched the doubles point with a 7-6(5) win.
Much like the previous match, No. 1 doubles was coming down to the wire. EL Sayed and Pia Rebec were up in the tiebreaker 6-6(4-3) over No. 66 Ana Cruz and Marcela Lopez when the doubles point was clinched.
Marcela Lopez got singles going with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Ventura at No. 2 singles.
Utah extended the lead with a win at No. 4 singles from Kat Lyman 6-2, 6-1 against Betina Tokac.
Inching closer to the clinch Sara Akid won 6-3, 6-3 over Pia Rebec at No. 6 singles.
The Buffs needed a spark to get back into the match and that came from Stanojevic. After going down early to Kaila Barksdale at No. 3 singles in the first set, Stanojevic rattled off four straight games to win the first set 7-5. From that point, it was smooth sailing winning the second set 6-1 to bring the score to 3-2.
At No. 1 singles El Sayed and Yuhan Liu were locked in a battle from the first serve. The first set went Liu's way 6-2, and the second was flipped going to El Sayed with the same score of 6-2. In the third and final set, it was up in the air. After taking turns in the first couple of games, El Sayed took a 5-3 lead, but Liu would take the final four games to clinch the match for the Utes.
In the last match of the day, Alexandra Abyasova was close to clinching her match when the overall match was clinched. After taking a first set tiebreaker 7-6(5) over Emma Kamper. The two were tied at five when the match was finished.

UP NEXT
Despite the tough result, the Buffs will be back on Wednesday at the Pac-12 Tournament against this same Utah team at 10 a.m. in Ojai, Calif. They will compete in the first match of the tournament for a chance to play the No. 1-seeded UCLA in the second round.

RESULTS
No. 51 Utah 4, Colorado 2
April 20, 2024
Salt Lake City, Utah (George S. Eccles Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. No. 69 El Sayed/Rebec (CU) vs. No. 66 Cruz/Lopez (UU) 6-6 (4-3), unf.
2. Stanojevic/Ventura (CU) def. Horwood/Lyman (UU) 6-4
3. Bubalo/Nelson (CU) def. Akid/Barksdale (UU) 7-6(5)
Order of Finish: (2,3*)

Singles
1. Yuhan Liu (UU) def. Aya El Sayed (CU) 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
2. Marcela Lopez (UU) def. Elys Ventura (CU) 6-0, 6-3
3. Mila Stanojevic (CU) def. Kaila Barksdale (UU) 7-5, 6-1
4. Kat Lyman (UU) def. Betina Tokac (CU) 6-2, 6-1
5. Alexandra Abyasova (CU) vs. Emma Kamper (UU) 7-5, 5-5, unf.
6. Sara Akid (UU) def. Pia Rebec (CU) 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: (2,4,6,3,1*)

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Players Mentioned

Alexandra Abyasova

Ema Bubalo

Aya El Sayed

Anya Nelson

Pia Rebec

Mila Stanojevic

Betina Tokac

Elys Ventura