In a physically and mentally grueling match that lasted over five hours, the Utah women’s tennis team returned to its winning ways, coming away with the 4-3 victory over Colorado. The win secured the sixth-place spot in the Pac-12 the week leading up to the conference championship.
This was the first conference victory for the Utes since taking down Washington State on March 27 in Salt Lake, and this weekend marked the first time all season that the team picked up a road victory against a conference foe. It was not an easy accomplishment for the team, as the Utes were facing an emotionally-charged Colorado squad that was determined to celebrate its Senior Day with a victory against the 49th-ranked Utes.
While the home crowd and Colorado players were excited to get the chance to take down their intermountain rivals, freshman Jena Cheng said the Utes weren’t trying to play into the hype, but stay level-headed and focus on the match.
“We can’t really control how [the Colorado players’] emotions are going,” Cheng said. “We focus on ourselves and try to be supportive for our team members, try to be loud for them. We try to cheer as much as we can, but we weren’t really trying to match [Colorado’s excitement].”
Inclement weather forced the match indoors and onto three courts, which, in combination with the intense back-and-forth matches, lengthened the duration of the day’s competition. Doubles play set the tone for the day’s match as all three courts featured intense competition.
In the No. 3 spot, Utah’s Elena Najera-Salas and Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa fought hard to get ahead and eventually close out the set 8-6. Then the Ute pair of Sarah Richter and Cheng in the No. 2 spot proved too strong for the Buffs, taking that set 8-7(1). Meanwhile, the match in the No. 1 spot, featuring Utah’s 38th-ranked Tereza Bekerova and Alexia Petrovic, was left unfinished, with the score knotted up at seven games apiece when the Utes took the doubles point.
Colorado rebounded from the doubles loss and was quick to put pressure on the Utes in singles play with a swift 6-1, 6-2 victory over Richter. With Cheng falling short in her match 6-3, 6-0, and several other matches going neck-to-neck, the tension was building Utah, who found itself down 2-1.
Meanwhile in the first spot, No. 67 Bekerova was locked in a close duel with Colorado’s Tina Bokhua. After winning the first set 7-6(5), Bekerova found herself in a second set that was equally contested. The senior showcased her ability to finish strong in high-stake scenarios and came away with another tiebreaker victory to win her match 7-6(2) and tie the score 2-2.
Bekerova’s performance provided a spark for the team and got things going for the Utes, who followed it up with consecutive wins at the number five and four spots to secure the team victory. These two matches included a controlling performance by Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa in her 6-4, 6-3 match, and another close match involving Utah’s Margo Pletcher, who overcame a one-set deficit to win the match 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3.
The Utes dramatically improved in winning close sets, an aspect of their game that they struggled with in last weekend’s matches against USC and UCLA. Head coach Mat Iandolo attributed the team’s success to their ability to play with control.
“We definitely did a better job of [closing out sets]. Basically, of the three or four close singles matches and the doubles match, we won every single close match,” Iandolo said. “We won the match against Colorado because we were overall more disciplined than they were. They were a very talented team; I felt that our edge over them was that we were more disciplined.”
The players will look to build off of this victory over Colorado, as each Ute continues to focus on self-improvement in preparation for the Pac-12 Championships starting Thursday in Ojai, Calif.
“Everybody has their own things that they think they want to do better on court. In Colorado, some of us didn’t exactly play our best, but the people that won really competed well,” Cheng said. “As long as we can bring a good competitive energy, I think we can all do well.”
Iandolo stressed that finding success in the championships will require the team to elevate its play but that the Utes have matured significantly over the last two months and are ready for the challenge.
“When the match gets close against the best teams in the country, we’ve got to play more positively and more committed to winning,” Iandolo said. “The last month and a half, we’ve played like a Top 30 team. In the beginning of the year, we played considerably below that level, but that stands to reason because we are a young team, and early on we had trouble with the things that young teams have trouble with. I like what I’ve seen [in the team’s recent play] and it bodes well for the future.”
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