Colorado State University Athletics
Preview: CSU looks to carry win streak to road
2/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
WEEKLY RELEASE #7 (PDF) / ROSTER / SCHEDULE / STATISTICS / RECORD BOOK
Colorado State vs. No. 32 Wichita State
Saturday, Feb. 13 / 4 p.m. / Lincoln, Neb. / Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Club
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Colorado State at Nebraska
Sunday, Feb. 14 / 10 a.m. / Lincoln, Neb. / Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Club
Live Stats
RAMS LOOK TO CARRY MOMENTUM OVER TO THE ROAD
The Colorado State Rams are fresh off of a pair of victories last weekend, and look to carry that momentum over to this weekend in Nebraska. CSU will begin the road stretch with a neutral-site match against Wichita State, followed by a Sunday morning contest against Nebraska. CSU has faced Nebraska for at least 12 consecutive seasons, while the Rams and Shockers last met in 2012 in Lincoln.
Scouting Wichita State:
- Ranked No. 32 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I rankings. The Shockers are led by sophomore Gabriela Porubin, who is rated as the 72nd-best player nationally.
- Enters the week 5-2, with victories over nationally ranked Oklahoma and Minnesota. WSU's two losses are to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State - which were both ranked in the top 10 at the time.
- Sophomore Giulia Guidetti is 4-0 on the season, and dating back to the fall has won nine consecutive matches. She plays at the Nos. 4-6 positions.
- Will face BYU and Missouri in Columbia, Mo., before battling against Nebraska and CSU Saturday in Lincoln.
- Seven of Wichita State's 11 players are from outside the U.S.
- Colin Foster is in his seventh season as the head coach at Wichita State. The Shocker have won the regular-season and tournament championship each of the six previous seasons, going 59-0.
Scouting Nebraska:
- Enters the weekend undefeated at 6-0, most-recently upsetting No. 71 Wyoming.
- Senior Maggy Lehmicke holds a 5-1 record at No. 1 singles, while junior Mary Hanna is 5-1 in singles and 6-0 in doubles.
- Freshman Vasanti Shinde, from Pune, India, owns an 11-1 combined record this spring.
- Scott Jacobson is in his 25th season and owns 359 career wins. In the past four seasons, he has coached two All-Americans, two Big Ten Athletes of the year and has earned a conference championship (2013).
WEEKEND REWIND
CSU went 2-0 over the weekend, picking up wins over CSU-Pueblo and Metro State. Aina Hernandez Soler and Madison Porter went undefeated on the weekend, picking up a pair of singles wins while also going 2-0 together in doubles play. Maddie Buxton and Emily Kolbow also were perfect, going 2-0 each in singles and 1-0 in doubles.
On Friday, the Rams earned their first win of the season, beating CSU-Pueblo, 6-1. The ThunderWolves only had five competitors, having to forfeit the No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles matches. CSU won the No. 2-6 singles positions in straight sets on Saturday, in addition to both doubles matches, to secure its second win.
TALKING EXPECTATIONS
CSU is coming off one of its best seasons in recent memory, winning eight matches in the spring, the most since 2011. The biggest win came in April over No. 54 New Mexico. It was the Rams' first victory over a ranked team in at least 11 years, and afterward, Messick called it the biggest win of his lengthy coaching career. In addition to the total number of wins, CSU also returns the majority of its production, meaning they believe they're in position to move up in the Mountain West standings.
"We have some team goals - some quantifiable, some not," Messick said before the spring season. "We would like to improve our standing in the conference for sure."
More than goals, however, Messick stated that he wants his team playing at its best come conference season.
"The main thing is that as the season progresses we understand what our best lineup is, and we make adjustments to our lineup to put players in the right position for them to be successful," he continued. "We want to have a lineup that we're comfortable with by the time conference play begins, especially the conference tournament."
FALL RECAP
CSU played in four tournaments throughout the fall season, gaining valuable experience regarding the strengths of the team. The main takeaway was the team's strong doubles play.
"Our doubles was really strong in the fall, so we're really looking forward to having some strong doubles play," Messick said. "That's what we're anticipating and expecting, and that'll go a long way as the season progresses."
The tandem of Aina Hernandez Soler and Madison Porter earned six doubles victories during the fall season, while Maddie Buxton and Laia Hernandez Soler won five matches. Messick was also pleased with the play of freshman Emily Kolbow, who had a team-most four singles victories.
BULK RETURNING
Jon Messick is in his 27th season as head coach at Colorado State, and for the 2016 spring season returns the bulk of last year's production, including six letterwinners. In total, CSU returns a lineup which won 59 singles matches last year (28 during the spring season), with four individuals winning at least 10.
Additionally, CSU welcomed two newcomers to its roster. Emily Kolbow is a four-star recruit from Arrowhead Union High School in Hartland, Wis. The four-time conference champion finished in the top three at the WIAA Division I Wisconsin state championships three times during her high-school career. Caroline Henderson comes to CSU with two years of eligibility after spending the beginning of her career at Kansas. She posted three singles victories and two doubles wins as a freshman, before earning two more singles victories during the fall of her sophomore season.
"We're returning six players, and four of them are seniors," Messick said. "We do have experience, and with adding Caroline Henderson, she has good college experience, as well."
HELPING HAND
For the first time in school history, CSU has a full-time assistant coach. Jarod Camerota brings more than a decade of top-level experience as a coach and recruiter, including last season at Northern Arizona. He also has spent time as an assistant at Northwestern, and as a head coach - either men's, women's or both - at Georgia State, Jacksonville and Mars Hill College.
THE BIG STAGE COMES TO FORT COLLINS
For the second time in six seasons, CSU will host the Mountain West Women's Tennis Championships, April 28-May 1. The four-day event will feature all nine conference teams, including the semifinals on April 30 and the championship on May 1. The Championships will be played at the University Tennis Complex, a $2-million-dollar facility built in 2011 that features 12 post-tensioned concrete courts (eight of which are lighted), in addition to large viewing areas, restrooms, a team room and storage area.
"We're excited to host the Mountain West Championships once again," Messick said. "It's a huge advantage to be in the comfort of our homes and on our home courts and not having to travel. We're comfortable playing here and we have a good fan base that gives us an advantage."
BUILDING TOWARD THE FUTURE
CSU signed one of its best recruiting classes in school history in November, inking four players - Solene Crawley, Alyssa Grijalva, Sandra Keta and Riley Reeves - to National Letters of Intent. All four are four-star recruits by TennisRecruiting.net.
"I'm really excited about this class," Messick said. "If they work hard and continue to get better during their four years at CSU, they could be our best recruiting class and help us challenge for a Mountain West title."
Messick said the things that drew him to these players were that they are great competitors, have a passion for tennis, wanted to be Rams and most importantly are great people. Additionally, all four are from CSU's main recruiting areas of California, Texas and the upper Midwest.
GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
Five of CSU's seven returnees were recognized during the offseason as Spring 2015 Academic All-Mountain West recipients - Maddie Buxton, Mollie Cooper, Aina Hernandez Soler, Laia Hernandez Soler and Madison Porter. Buxton and Porter were also named Scholar-Athletes by the MW and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
What's more, the entire team was recognized by the ITA for holding a cumulative grade-point average above a 3.20. It marked the sixth year in a row that Messick's team has been named an ITA All-Academic Team.
LOOKING AHEAD
CSU will return home for a single match against Colorado College on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m. at the Fort Collins Country Club. The Rams are 2-0 against local teams this spring.
