Weekley Doubles Up on Messick Titles

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For any competitor, the physical attributes to accomplish something is not always enough. A mental push can go a long way toward reaching goals. For some, it comes naturally. Others want proof.

Getting a few just rewards along the path will definitely pay off.

Via different routes, Colorado State's Sarah Weekley and Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya fed into some belief in their abilities to post impressive victories on the final day of the Jon Messick Invitational on Sunday at the CSU Tennis Complex.

For Weekley, it led to a pair of titles on the day, first in doubles with partner Ky Ecton, then on her own in singles. Zhadzinskaya found her payoff in the singles consolation bracket after placing fourth in her doubles draw with teammate Luana Avelar.

Both of Weekley's titles came in Flight B. As singles, she won her fourth straight-sets match of the tournament by beating Maud Vandeputte of New Mexico, 6-4, 6-3. It was the most she'd been pushed in a singles match in the draw, but she's learned to give herself a personal peptalk when she needed one.

It's a skill she hadn't developed last season, but her seven singles wins this fall have already surpassed what she was able to do last spring, her first as a collegiate player.

"This has definitely built my confidence up. I'm starting to believe in myself that I can actually do these things," Weekley said. "This tournament, I was much more positive. Last year I couldn't do that. If someone was watching, I was sort of embarrassed to make a mistake. This year, I'm used to watching people now, so if I make a mistake, it's on the next point."

A big serve never hurts, and she's armed with one. And with each win, she's arming herself with a deeper understanding of not only does she belong on the court, but she can also pile up wins.

She's also learning to like to play doubles the more she plays. And paired with Ecton this weekend, she had an experienced partner who plays the mental game in much the same manner – important, but not life and death. While it was fun winning by herself, she enjoyed winning with Ecton all the more.

"I'm starting to like doubles. Ky doesn't take things too seriously, and there's not much pressure," she said. "I can be free, and she doesn't tell me off for missing a shot. Her energy is really positive, and we don't take things too seriously. Sometimes we get a bit unfocused because we chat about random things, but that just calms my nerves, really."

It wasn't as if they needed much calming, taking a 6-2 decision from Denver's Caroline Driscoll and Anastasia Simonov. Watching them during the match, it was easy to see they were enjoying the partnership and their ability to play to each other's strengths.

Finding enjoyment is supposed to be part of college athletics, and Colorado State coach Mai-Ly Tran feels Weekley has reached that point.

"I'm proud of how she's been playing and what she's accomplished in both singles and doubles. I'm just happy she's enjoying playing tennis," Tran said. "That's what I'm most happy about. It's showing, and she's played so well this tournament and she deserves this.

"I think she put a lot of pressure on herself last year. Now she's able to play more freely."

Ecton finished fourth in Flight C in singles, falling 6-1, 6-3 to New Mexico's Sarah Alice O'Connor, who came down from Flight A, as both had opponents withdraw with injury concerns.

Luana Avelar and Zhadzinskaya placed fourth in Flight A doubles when the fell 6-4 to New Mexico's Katherine Jhang and Hsuan Huang. Then each of them had a singles match in consolation rounds, with Avelar falling in three sets to Denver's Anastasia Simonov, another fill-in opponent, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-7.

Zhadzinskaya had lost two tight matches in singles earlier in the draw, but it didn't seem to faze her when she was on the brink of dropping a third on the final day. She had split sets with Megan Davies of Weber State, dropping the first 6-3 before coming back 6-4. In the 10-point tiebreak set, Davies had match point at 9-3.

She never reached there, as Zhadzinskaya won eight consecutive points to take the final set and match, 11-9.

"I was just believing in myself. Tennis matches are not over until the last point, so I went out and did my best to see what happens," she said. "I'm always fighting. Yesterday I had some losses, and the day before, but I was so grateful being in a good draw to play against good players. To me, it's better to lose a tough match and learn different things than win easily and not improve. That's the perfect time to see my weaknesses and see things I can work on."

After playing at Hillsborough Community College the past two years, the native of Belarus wanted to test herself at the highest level, and CSU coach Mai-Ly Tran recruited her knowing she could make the jump. Now Zhadzinskaya is seeing it herself.

It hasn't hurt she's found a supportive team, on and off the court. And she and Sarka Richterova seem to be kindred spirits, with Weekley joking the duo have a way of entertaining each other. With that as a backdrop, she's finding her game holds up just fine.

"I'm very happy that I made this jump because I can see the difference in level," she said. "That's what I wanted because I wanted a good, high level to improve and play against better players. My first matches, I did pretty well, and it gave me even more confidence because I saw that I can do this at this level. I'm really excited now. I get to play tougher players, so I can see the level I'm trying to get to."

The team was split this weekend, with four players – Richterova, Radka Buzkova, Emily Dush and Zara Lennon – on the sidelines cheering the first two days before leaving early Sunday for Cary, N.C., for Monday matches in the ITA All-American Championships.

While Tran prefers to keep the team together, she did find the silver lining in being able to focus on one half of the team more intensely over the weekend, then be able to do the same for at least the next few days.

"In one way, it's easier because you can focus on a few girls at a time, but I think I do enjoy the team aspect of it, and I know the girls probably miss each other when they have to separate to play tournaments," she said. "But at the same time those girls can get closer to each other as well. These players value relationships and they understand the importance of a close team and how that can impact the success of a team. They genuinely like and support each other toward a common goal."
Tran said the team had a different set of goals for the second time out this fall, including higher expectations. After getting a feel for where they were in the first tournament, they took what they learned and applied it to their games.

Part of that will be a constant. Weekley noted after every time they play, Tran wants them to write down three things they found good about the match and two items to work on. She had yet to put pen to paper, but the first line was already in her head – positivity.

A pretty easy choice after the weekend success she enjoyed.

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Players Mentioned

Luana Avelar

Radka Buzkova

Emily Dush

Ky Ecton

Zara Lennon

Sarka Richterova

Sarah Weekley

Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya