Colorado University Athletics
Buff Volleys With Coach Kenneally
Nicole Kenneally
Colorado Tennis head coach Nicole Kenneally will share her thoughts with Buffs fans on her team's progress throughout the 2009 spring season. This week she tells about the Buffaloes trip to Oregon last weekend.
Another great weekend fight by the Buffaloes....
This weekend was another great opportunity for the ladies to show what they are made of. We competed against two very solid teams.
On Saturday we played New Mexico at a neutral site at the University of Oregon. In doubles play Cami Belassi and Melisa Esposito established an early lead and stayed on top of their opponents physically as well as emotionally. At No. 3 doubles Michala Hedelund Jensen and Abbie Probert did a great job of getting a good start and building a lead. At No. 2 doubles Franziska Jendrian and Ania Anuszkiewicz had one of those days where they were always there but just could not pull off the game point. They fell behind early. The doubles continued with 1 and 3 continuing to build their leads. At 2 we did a great job of hanging in there. We got ourselves in a bit of a hole being 6-3 down but kept hanging in playing aggressive doubles. We pulled even to 6-6. No. 1 and 3 doubles closed out their matches with victories and then No. 2 doubles followed suit with a solid end to their pro-set.
We knew that New Mexico would come after us in the singles so we put ourselves to work. We took commanding leads at 1, 3 and 4 singles. Abbie blew through her opponent and took care of business. Michala won a good first set in her match and then Ania made a great recovery from 3-0 down in the 2nd in her match. Franzi soon followed with another victory. Melisa played a solid match but was just outplayed by her opponent on this day. Within a couple of minutes Cami wrapped up her first victory at the No. 1 singles spot. Michala was in a great battle in the 2nd set and did a great job of holding her opponent at bay for the win. Ania did a great job at No. 5 with getting even at a set a piece. Due to the match having been decided a Super 10 point tiebreak was played. After a little bit of see sawing unfortunately Ania did not pull it out but played well and continues to make improvements. We defeated New Mexico 5-2.
Camilla Belassi won her first career No. 1 singles match defeating New Mexico's MacKenzie White 6-3, 6-3
On to Oregon....
We knew Oregon was going to be a great competitive match and it sure lived up to it. The doubles came out firing from both teams and within the first 25 minutes of play, it was even on all three courts. It was 4-4 at No. 1, 3-3 at No. 2 and 4-3 on serve at No. 3. The next 25 minutes were important ? we took a solid lead at No. 2 and had also snuck behind in the game count at No. 1. We also had jumped ahead at No. 3 doubles. We lost at No. 1 and soon after closed out with a victory at No. 2. So it was down to No. 3 doubles..... Michala and Abbie played a solid set and did a great job of affording themselves many opportunities but the Oregon team did a great job of never say die and just kept hanging around. After a solid comeback the Oregon team evened things up at 7-7. Michala did a great job of holding to put us up 8-7. Mic and Abbie did a great job on this next return game to keep the pressure and to keep their composure. We broke serve to win it 9-7.
Again, we knew this was not over till the end. Singles was a tussle from top to bottom. Abbie started things off right with winning her 1st set. Melisa also took things away from her opponent with great energy and won her 1st set. We also took the 1st set at No. 5 with Ania. We lost close 1st sets at No. 3 singles and at No. 1 singles. Michala lost her 1st, but recovered well in the 2nd set and was making it a hassle for her opponent. Soon after, Abbie closed out her match and so did Melisa. Cami threw her opponent off in the 2nd and pulled it into a 3rd set. Ania also went to a 3rd after her opponent took the 2nd set from her. Michala ended up falling just a little behind and ended up falling in two sets. Cami was out hit in her 3rd set by a very good player and then Franzi ended up falling in two sets to her opponent. Ania was the last one on and unfortunately was not able ot pull it off.
Abbie Probert was 4-0 on the week winning a pair of doubles and singles matches
In this match we lost a close one 4-3 however I was very proud of how much fight and energy the ladies put into each match that they played. We gave ourselves a shot to win but on this day Oregon was a little bit better. This was not for lack of trying or commitment to the end point. I am very happy with the progress we are making and continue to look forward to the time we will be spending on the practice courts. This group is definitely representing the Black and Gold proudly and they look forward to coming home to compete next weekend.
We look forward to seeing you at the Millennium Harvest House on Saturday (Valentine’s Day). The first serve will take place at 10 a.m.
GO Buffs!
Nicole Kenneally