Colorado State University Athletics
Friday, January 21
Phoenix, Ariz.
12:00 PM
Colorado State
vs
New Mexico State
Rams Kickoff Dual Season with Pair in Arizona
1/19/2022 12:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Team will face New Mexico State, Arizona State
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For Mai-Ly Tran, the main focus for the weekend is getting the process started.
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The first-year head coach for Colorado State women's tennis will take her team on the road for the beginning of the spring dual season, starting with a pair of non-conference matches. On Friday, the Rams will play New Mexico State (12 p.m.) at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz. That will be followed by a match at Arizona State (9:30 a.m.) at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
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"We have two different opponents. We saw New Mexico State in the fall, which we felt confident about," Tran said. "What I'm looking for is just getting back into match mode and managing our expectations. We have less than a week of practice. The girls look good in practice right now, and what I'm focused on is just getting better each day in practice, and that goes for the matches. I feel pretty confident going into the matches, but we also have to understand it's early in the season and we're not going to be in top shape. But we will get there."
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The Rams had a successful fall campaign in tournament play, with the doubles team of Radka Buzkova and Matea Mihaljevic becoming the first CSU players to win an ITA regional title, doing so at doubles at the ITA Mountain Regional in Las Vegas. With the title, they became the first Ram tandem to qualify for the ITA Fall Nationals, joined there by teammates Somer Dalla-Bona and Sarka Richterova, who also qualified as a doubles team.
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The Buzkova-Mihaljevic pairing posted a 16-2 record in the fall, landing at No. 32 in the first national doubles rankings, the highest position ever held by a CSU doubles team. Dalla-Bona and Richterova, who were paired later in the fall, finished with a 7-4 mark.
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Buzkova led the team in singles wins, going 10-4. Richterova was 8-5, Dalla-Bona 7-6, with Lucia Natal, Anastasiia Kotsyuba and Tracy Guo all winning six singles matches.
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The Rams spent all fall on the road, which Tran feels helped with team bonding. This trip, they add another to the mix as Sarah Weekley of New Zealand joins the team. A redshirt freshman, she has been officially on the roster for the past year, but the global pandemic delayed her arrival. With the whole team together, Tran wants them group to manage what they can and not worry about external outliers.
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"It's just focusing on the things we can control, so it's our attitudes and efforts out there," she said. "Really, it is just having fun in the beginning and having a trip on the road to get started. As a team, we have an incoming freshman who just came in, so it's really an opportunity for match play."
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This weekend will be the first of 21 matches the Rams will play this fall, the first 11 out of conference. For the Arizona State match, live stats and a live stream are available. Colorado State will play its first home match of the season Feb. 5 at the Fort Collins Country Club when they host Metro State (2 p.m.)
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The first-year head coach for Colorado State women's tennis will take her team on the road for the beginning of the spring dual season, starting with a pair of non-conference matches. On Friday, the Rams will play New Mexico State (12 p.m.) at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale, Ariz. That will be followed by a match at Arizona State (9:30 a.m.) at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Â
"We have two different opponents. We saw New Mexico State in the fall, which we felt confident about," Tran said. "What I'm looking for is just getting back into match mode and managing our expectations. We have less than a week of practice. The girls look good in practice right now, and what I'm focused on is just getting better each day in practice, and that goes for the matches. I feel pretty confident going into the matches, but we also have to understand it's early in the season and we're not going to be in top shape. But we will get there."
Â
The Rams had a successful fall campaign in tournament play, with the doubles team of Radka Buzkova and Matea Mihaljevic becoming the first CSU players to win an ITA regional title, doing so at doubles at the ITA Mountain Regional in Las Vegas. With the title, they became the first Ram tandem to qualify for the ITA Fall Nationals, joined there by teammates Somer Dalla-Bona and Sarka Richterova, who also qualified as a doubles team.
Â
The Buzkova-Mihaljevic pairing posted a 16-2 record in the fall, landing at No. 32 in the first national doubles rankings, the highest position ever held by a CSU doubles team. Dalla-Bona and Richterova, who were paired later in the fall, finished with a 7-4 mark.
Â
Buzkova led the team in singles wins, going 10-4. Richterova was 8-5, Dalla-Bona 7-6, with Lucia Natal, Anastasiia Kotsyuba and Tracy Guo all winning six singles matches.
Â
The Rams spent all fall on the road, which Tran feels helped with team bonding. This trip, they add another to the mix as Sarah Weekley of New Zealand joins the team. A redshirt freshman, she has been officially on the roster for the past year, but the global pandemic delayed her arrival. With the whole team together, Tran wants them group to manage what they can and not worry about external outliers.
Â
"It's just focusing on the things we can control, so it's our attitudes and efforts out there," she said. "Really, it is just having fun in the beginning and having a trip on the road to get started. As a team, we have an incoming freshman who just came in, so it's really an opportunity for match play."
Â
This weekend will be the first of 21 matches the Rams will play this fall, the first 11 out of conference. For the Arizona State match, live stats and a live stream are available. Colorado State will play its first home match of the season Feb. 5 at the Fort Collins Country Club when they host Metro State (2 p.m.)
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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