Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
UNLV
Recap: Rams' rally against No. 75 Rebels falls short
2/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Samuel Feldman
Athletic Communications
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Colorado State women's tennis team dropped its Mountain West opener on Sunday, falling to the 75th-ranked UNLV Rebels, 6-1, in Las Vegas. The loss drops CSU's record to 3-6, 0-1 MW, while UNLV remains unbeaten on the season.
"We had our shots, and we had a chance today to take the double point," said CSU head coach Jon Messick. "We just did not play consistent enough during doubles to hold onto a few leads."
CSU's point came from the No. 6 singles position, when senior Aina Hernandez Soler defeated UNLV's Mercedes Lopez in a tightly contested match that went extra games in both sets. She won the first set, 7-5 before taking the second frame, 7-6, in a tiebreaker.
"Aina had a very similar match to yesterday," head coach Jon Messick said. "She closed out today. I was happy with her sticking to the plan we have had in practice. We just have to work on getting the rest of the team on the same plan."
The Rams' No. 2 doubles duo of Emily Kolbow/Celine Voss also was victorious (6-1), giving CSU a leg up to begin doubles play. The Rams needed to win just one of two other matches, but dropped both by a narrow margin, including the deciding match, 7-5.
UNLV swept singles play from the No. 1 through 5 spots to earn the match victory. Two of the individuals are nationally ranked by ITA.
CSU's concludes its five-match road trip next weekend (March 5) against Colorado. The Rams are 3-0 against in-state competition.
Doubles
No. 1: C. Zi Yang/A. Zhu (UNLV) def. A. Hernandez Soler/M. Porter (CSU) - 6-4
No. 2: E. Kolbow/C. Voss (CSU) def. C. Moroi/R. Szentes (UNLV) - 6-1
No. 3: I. Kotseva/P. Artiga (UNLV) def. M. Buxton/L. Hernandez Soler (CSU) - 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
No. 1: C. Zi Yang (UNLV) def. L. Hernandez Soler (CSU) - 6-1, 6-0
No. 2: A. Zhu (UNLV) def. E. Kolbow (CSU) - 6-0, 6-1
No. 3: P. Artiga (UNLV) def. M. Buxton (CSU) - 6-0, 6-2
No. 4: A. Bogoslavets (UNLV) def. C. Voss (CSU) - 6-0, 6-0
No. 5: I. Kotseva (UNLV) def. M. Porter (CSU) - 6-3, 6-2
No. 6: A. Hernandez Soler (CSU) def. M. Lopez (UNLV) - 7-5, 7-6
Order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5, 6
Players Mentioned
