Rams Drop Mountain West Opener to Fresno State

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LARAMIE, Wyo. – Getting back into the flow was what mattered.

When it came to thinking about what Saturday's outcome may be, nobody from Colorado State women's tennis expected to storm the castle. It had been 25 days since the Rams had last played a competitive match, and that was played 23 days after the third match of the season. After the lengthy delays, they were set to play a Fresno State squad which was on the court for the 15^th time this season, and it showed in the 4-0 Mountain West result, the conference opener for the Rams.

The final score was lopsided – and it came with the Rams giving the Bulldogs a singles point before that portion of the draw played with Emily Luetschwager out of the lineup – but each match was competitive, which gave the team and their coach some hope before returning to the Wyoming Indoor Tennis Facility on Sunday to face Nevada.

Above all, it was fun.

"It was," Alyssa Grijalva said. "Honestly, at first doubles was really hard for me to get back into the groove and realizing I was in a match, and then after that, it was like, OK Lou Regen, we'll come back tomorrow and we still have a match. In singles, even though I lost, I had a lot of fun on the court.

"I was just like out there doing what I practice. Even though we lost, we'll come back tomorrow. There's always tomorrow."

That felt great for her to say, because for most of the season, the Rams wondered if tomorrow would ever come. With five matches remaining, all they want to really do is stack matches and see where it leads them. As they found out, there's a difference in practice and playing, and to coach Jarod Camerota, it was clear to see which team had played 10 more times.

"You can tell the difference," Camerota said. "It's just that consistency of making balls over and over, and getting a little tense on big points. That's just normal when you don't play a lot and you're not used to those scenarios. Now we are, so now tomorrow we should be a little bit better."

When Fresno State took the doubles point, the No. 3 tandem of Emma Corwin and Anastasiia Kotsyuba held match point up 6-5, but didn't get to finish. It also marked just the second time Priscilla Palermo has been on the court this year, thanks to a shoulder injury which has held the senior back after an All-Mountain West performance in singles a season ago.

Despite a 7-5 loss at the top spot in doubles with Tracy Guo, the day felt like an important step for her. She has the most rust to knock off, and the lefty has to learn to trust her shoulder again.

Saturday, she felt like she could.

"Today was really fun to play. I love doubles," Palermo said. "I like playing doubles more than I like playing singles. Being out there at No. 1, even though I have a bum shoulder, it felt good just to rip the ball. That was fun. Just being able to hit a forehand, because that's the biggest problem with my shoulder is I wasn't able to hit forehands a couple months ago. Now I can hit them at full speed and I don't feel any pain. I'm probably on the up and up.

"It definitely felt natural today. I think it's only up from here."

But the matches themselves didn't, not at crucial times. Grijalva was in a slugfest at No. 3 in the first set, while the rest of her teammates were battling back from early deficits. In the end, three of the four singles matches produced tight outcomes.

And when the Bulldogs had secured the win, both Regen and Tracy Gou were playing toe-to-toe in the second set.

"For us to come out and have a real tight doubles point – and we at match point up at No. 3 doubles – so a few points here and there go back and forth, it was good," he said. "Tracy's girl at singles has been winning a bunch at No. 1, and she lost a tiebreaker. Lou got down early and battled back, and Alyssa was right in there the whole time. It was good, especially considering all the circumstances. I think it was positive, and we just need to get better tomorrow."

That felt like a real difference for the Rams. First, they had to get used to match play against somebody else. That took a few games to get into a flow.

Perfecting strokes can be done in practice, and they can even play some matches in those sessions. But Grijalva noted the difference between game or set points against a teammate and a new opponent forces play to a new level.

"I think just getting back into the mindset of we're in a match instead of practice and seeing a different face on the other side of the court, it was really nice," Grijalva said. "We play with our teammates all the time, and now we're playing against someone else, which is really exciting. I think it's adrenaline, nervousness, a mixture of a lot of stuff.

"You're more tight. When it's deuce with your teammates, you know how your teammates play. When it's another team, you're more nervous. You either go for it or you don't."

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