Colorado State University Athletics
Tennis Preview: Messick takes four players to ITA Mountain Regionals
10/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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THIS WEEK
Colorado State will send six players south to Albuquerque, N.M. for the annual ITA Mountain Regional tennis event. Head Coach Jon Messick will take senior Natalie Heffron and juniors Maddie Buxton, Mollie Cooper, Aina Hernandez Soler and Laia Hernandez Soler for the tournament. Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Boise State, Brigham Young, Colorado, Montana State, Montana, Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, Air Force, Denver, Idaho, Utah, Utah State, Weber State and Wyoming.
As they have during the previous three fall tournaments, Heffron and Wojakowska will team up as the Rams’ top doubles team. Cooper and A. Hernandez Soler will make the second team, and the final duo is L. Hernandez Soler and Buxton.
Live scoring will not be available during the event, but CSURams.com will have a recap of each day.
LAST TIME OUT
In early October, the Rams traveled to Tucson, Ariz., for the second annual Wildcat Invitational, hosted by the University of the Arizona. CSU was forced to battle heat and injuries, but were able to gain a lot of experience during the three-day event.
Several CSU doubles teams advanced to the championship match of their respective brackets, but they couldn’t earn a victory. Heffron and Wojakowska were the only Rams tandem to earn a victory on the final day.
In singles action, freshman Rebecca Costa advanced to the championship match in her bracket, but was ultimately defeated.
Heffron was held out of the final two days of singles events due to a minor injury.
FROM 2013 TO 2014
Colorado State finished its 2013 campaign with a 3-13 record, but had several outstanding individual performances. The young team gained a lot of much-needed experience over the 16 spring tournament last year.
The Rams return, six letterwinners who combined for 15 of their 17 singles victories from dual matches last season, and five of their nine doubles victories. Head Coach Jon Messick also brings in experience by the way of three transfers, including a set of twins from Marquette.
“I’m hoping we’ll have a lot more depth this year than we had last year,” Messick said. “We got kind of thin last year with injuries. The way practices have been going so far, I think we’re going to be a lot deeper team lower in the lineup than we’ve been for a long time, and hopefully that’ll transfer to winning some matches.”
The Marquette twins, Aina and Laia Hernandez, who are from Barcelona, Spain, combined for 67 overall victories in their two seasons for the Golden Eagles. The other transfer is Madison Porter, who spent her freshman season at New Mexico. In Albuquerque, Porter posted a 5-3 singles record, competing at the No. 6 position. In fall doubles action, Porter recorded a 5-1 record.
“We have a couple Spaniards and they’re high energy,” Messick said referring to the Hernandez twins. “People will enjoy watching them. We have new faces overall. Rebecca Costa from Florida, has a different style of play than people are used to seeing. She’s a really strong player in terms of her racket skills.”