Colorado University Athletics
Tennis Hosts Home Finale This Weekend
In case of inclement weather, Friday's 2 p.m. match with the Aggies will be played at the Millennium Hotel Harvest House. Sunday's match begins at 11 a.m.
The Buffaloes enter the weekend winners of three of their last five matches with a 10-10 record and a 3-6 mark in the conference. CU is ranked No. 68 in the last Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of the top 75 schools. Texas A&M (11-8, 6-3) is tied for fourth in the conference and have lost three of their last four matches.
Six of A&M loses are schools currently in the nation's top-25 with the exception of two others who are No. 34 and No. 40. CU will be looking for its first win over Texas A&M since 1998.
On Sunday against the No. 19 ranked Longhorns, seniors Camila Belassi, Melisa Esposito and Monica Milewski will step on the South Boulder Tennis Courts for the last time during their collegiate careers.
All enter the weekend with 68 or more career singles and 61 or more doubles victories over their last four years and all three rank among the top-20 on the all-time singles and doubles lists in school history.
Belassi, who injured her right knee (ACL) last month is out for the year, while Esposito and Milewski are currently tied for first on the school's all-time doubles chart with 76 victories. They also share the lead with May 2009 graduate Franziska Jendrian. In singles, Milewski will finish in second place on the school's all-time wins list (88), while Esposito (80) has a chance to move into eighth place.
Milewski and Esposito are the No. 93 and No. 107 nationally ranked singles players.
Texas (13-4) has won six straight matches and currently in second place in the conference standings with an 8-1 mark.
COLORADO MATCH NOTES
- Seniors Melisa Esposito and Monica Milewski share the all-time doubles lead with 2009 graduate Franziska Jendrian with 76 career wins.
- Milewski ranks second overall on the school's all-time singles victories list with 88. Emily Smith (1995-99) tops the list with 95.
- Six student-athletes have reached double-digit victories for the year matching the 2007-08 season. Milewski (23), Esposito (19), Abbie Probert (15), Camila Belassi (13), Michala Hedelund Jensen (13), Erin Sanders (12).
- If Esposito wins one more singles match, she will reach 20 wins for the third straight time.
- Milewski and Esposito have the most spring victories with 13 and 12, respectively. Each has 12 wins apiece at their respective singles position.
- CU's No. 1 doubles team of Ania Anuszkiewicz and Monica Milewski have won 13 times this year, tying for the team lead with Camila Belassi/Melisa Esposito (13). Anuszkiewicz/Milewski also have won a team-best 10 matches this spring.
- Singles Trends: Milewski has won 11 of her last 13 singles matches; Probert has won three of her last four, and four of six; Esposito has won four of her last six. Hedelund Jensen/Probert has won three of five doubles matches.
- If the season ended today, CU would be the No. 9 seed and play No. 8 Kansas State next Thursday (April 29) at the Big 12 Tennis Championships. The winner would play top-seeded Baylor.
TEXAS A&M MATCH NOTES
- Texas A&M leads the all-time series 12-3 and has won the last 11 meetings against CU. The Aggies are 5-1 in Boulder.
- A&M has been 9-2 in the conference each of the last four years. They have won the Big 12 title once (2004) and also reached the finals in 2003 and 2002. During that three-year stretch, Coach Kleinecke teams went 28-5 (.849) in Big 12 play and 65-24 overall (.730).
- The Aggies have not been lower than fourth place in the history of the Big 12 Standings.
- Texas A&M head coach Bobby Kleinecke will be going for his 400th career victory when the Aggies face the Buffaloes. Kleinecke is 399-264 in his 25th season at the helm of the Aggies.
- Senior Elz+¬ Potgieter is 88-52 in career singles matches, tying her with former All-American Kim Labuschagne (1985-87) for seventh place in the A&M records for career victories.
- Freshman Nazari Urbina is 13-0 at the No. 2 singles line, including 9-0 in Big 12 matches only. She is listed 49th in this week's ITA national singles rankings.
- Urbina and junior Morgan Frank lead the Aggies with identical 18-2 dual match records. The two are a combined 36-3 at No. 2 and 3 singles.
- The duo of Urbina and Potgieter is 11-6 at the No. 1 line and is No. 40 in the ITA national doubles rankings.
TEXAS MATCH NOTES
- Texas enters its weekend matches at Missouri and Colorado on a six-match winning streak, which includes a 6-1 home win over then-No. 5 Northwestern.
- In the latest ITA team poll released Tuesday, Texas ranks 19th, its highest team ranking since January 2009, when it was voted No. 16 in the preseason rankings.
- The Longhorns are led by freshman Aeriel Ellis, the 2009 ITA Texas Regional Champion, who qualified for the ITA All-American Championships and the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships last fall.
- Ranked No. 23 in singles by the ITA, Ellis brings a 12-4 dual-match record at No. 1 singles into this weekend's matches.
- Senior Sarah Lancaster brings a 36-1 career record in conference play into this weekend's matches.
- Texas' win earlier this week at Texas A&M clinched a first-round bye for the Horns at next week's Big 12 Championships in Austin. Texas has had a first-round bye in all 14 Big 12 Championships.