Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Air Force Invitational
Tennis recap: Rams hang tough against stiff competition at AFA
10/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 1, 2010
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Colorado State's tennis team concluded Day 1 of the Air Force Invitational Friday at the Air Force outdoor tennis facility.
And while the Rams didn't fare as well as they'd hoped, they got tremendous experience. Forced to juggle their lineup without the services of three contributors, the Rams adjusted to adversity and came through in good shape, according to Head Coach Jon Messick.
"On paper," he said, "it did not look like a great day. But we lost three three-setters, and two of those were against Oregon and the other one was against Oklahoma State, teams that are ranked or have ranked players."
One of those three-setters was a valiant effort by senior Caitlin Fluegge, who battled Oregon's Paulina Smatova, the nation's 80th-ranked player in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, to a near upset. Fluegge took the first set, 6-4, but Smatova won the last two, 6-2 and 10-6 in the final-frame tiebreaker.
Veronika Wojakowska, meanwhile, dropped a hard-fought three-setter to Oklahoma State's Allison Burckhartt, then turned away CU's Carla Manzi in the back draw. After going 3-0 last weekend at the CSU Invitational in Fort Collins, she's won four of her last five matches entering Saturday's play.
And the one match she lost Friday went three sets after she rebounded from a Set 1 loss to capture Set 2, and nearly pulled off the tiebreaker before bowing out, 10-7.
"That's her worst match in her last five matches, so that's pretty good," Messick added.
"Those go a few points in the tiebreaker either way and we win," Messick said. "Even though we lost, we were very competitive against two of the top teams in the tournament."
Oklahoma State, No. 62 in the final 2009-10 ITA poll, is the highest-ranked squad at the 12-team, three-day invitational.
In doubles, where Messick needed to alter some of his combinations to account for the loss of three players, the team played well. Fluegge and Wojakowska notched an 8-5 win over Arizona in the first round, then lost to another tough opponent from North Carolina-Greensboro.
The scrappy Rams are playing without three contributors: Melissa Holzinger (back), Kaley Schultz (abdomen) and Lauren Mulhern (death in family).
"It really changes things without those three players in there," Messick said. "The bad news is that we have to play against higher-level players than what we're used to, but the good news is that it's good experience playing against those players.
"We can live with some of these losses knowing they're going to make us better later this season and in the future. We played as well as we could expect "
Day 2 features one round of singles and one round of doubles before the tournament concludes on Sunday (same format).
Friday's results
SINGLES
Alpha-1 Flight
Main Draw: No. 80 Smatova (Oregon) def. Fluegge (CSU), 4-6, 6-2, 10-6
Bravo-2 Flight
Main Draw: Stubbe (Arizona) def. Arneson (CSU), 6-2, 6-3
Back Draw: Metzger (Oregon) def. Arneson (CSU), 3-6, 6-4, 10-8
Charlie-3 Flight
Main Draw: Burckhartt (Ohio State) def. Wojakowska (CSU) 6-3, 5-7, 10-5
Back Draw: Wojakowska (CSU) def. Manzi (Colorado), 6-3, 6-2
Delta-4 Flight
Main Draw: Skowronski (Oregon) def. Pick (CSU), 6-0, 6-0
Echo-5 Flight
Main Draw: Rivero (E.Michigan) def. Wooldridge (CSU), 6-2, 6-1
Back Draw: Cacciuttolo (Iowa State) def. Wooldridge (CSU), 6-0, 6-3
DOUBLES
Flight 1
Main draw: Fluegge/Wojakowska (CSU) def. Landsman/Huh (Arizona), 8-2
Main draw: Whitehead/Macfarlane (UNC-Greensboro) def. Fluegge/Wojakowska (CSU), 8-3
Flight 2
Main draw: Montreal/Hueffner (Air Force) def. Arneson/Pick (CSU), 8-4
Back draw: Schleich/Jensen (Colorado) def. Arneson/Pick (CSU), 8-4
Flight 3
Main draw: McDevitt/Cavan (Oregon) def. Wooldridge/Kern (CSU/CU), 9-8
