Colorado University Athletics

Tennis Hosts Washington State on Sunday, 11 a.m.

Tennis Hosts Washington State on Sunday, 11 a.m.
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BOULDER GÇô The University of Colorado womenGÇÖs tennis team wraps up a five match homestand this Sunday, March 29 taking on the Washington State Cougars at the South Campus courts.

First serve begins with doubles at 11 a.m.

The Buffaloes (9-8, 0-6 Pac-12) will be looking for their first conference win of the season against a Cougars team, also winless in the Pac-12.  WSU (12-9, 0-7) lost at Utah on Friday, 4-2.

The five-match homestand equals five straight matches a year ago, where CU capped the last match with a 4-0 win over Tulane.  On Sunday, the Buffs hope to break a six match skid.

CU enters its sixth week being nationally ranked. This week, theyGÇÖre the No. 64 ranked school out of 75 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll.  The Cougars were last ranked on Feb. 17 at No. 58.

In the head-to-head battle between the two schools, Washington State leads the series 3-2 dating back to 2005.  The Cougars have won three-straight - all in Pac-12 play. Last season, both were ranked with then-No. 53 WSU edging No. 60 CU, 4-2 in Pullman.  Julyette Steur (No. 1) and Nuria Orme+¦o Ruiz (No. 4) each rallied from a set down to win in three sets.

Alexandra Aiello, Nuria Orme+¦o Ruiz, and Julyette Steur all enter the weekend with 15 singles wins each (all had 18+ last season).  In dual play (spring season), Orme+¦o Ruiz leads the Buffs with 11 singles victories, matching her freshman total from a year ago.

In doubles, Tina Bokhua/Julyette Steur and Alex Aiello/Ashley Tiefel each have six spring doubles wins. Overall, Aiello/Tiefel lead the year with eight.

WSU is 0-7 this season against nationally ranked opponents and have five players with at least 25 singles wins for the year, Donika Bashota (28 wins), Maria Biryukova (27), Victoria Matejevic (26), Elizaveta Luzina (26), Lize Leenknecht (25).  In dual play, Matejevic and Bashota lead the Cougars with 13 and 12 singles wins, respectively.

Bashota broke the WSU freshman single-season singles with her 28th victory at Utah on Friday. Along with the freshman record, BashotaGÇÖs 28 victories ties her with three other Cougars for fifth place on WSUGÇÖs single-season win list.

SundayGÇÖs match with WSU is the second-to-the-last home match of the season for the Buffaloes.  CU ends the home slate against Utah on Saturday, April 18 at 11 a.m.

Next week, the Buffs travel to No. 55 Denver (Friday, April 3, 1 p.m.), followed by road matches to L.A. to take on No. 4 UCLA (Friday, April 10, 12:30 p.m.) and No. 1 USC (Saturday, April 11, 1 p.m.).

The CU/UCLA match will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.