Rams Win Border War to Clinch Tournament Bye

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – There was no place else Lucia Natal would have rather been.

Easy, really. A great, spring Colorado afternoon, out in the sun with her friends doing what she loves. Definitely beat the alternative.

"This is a dream. It's a Thursday, so we're supposed to be in class," Natal said. "It was the second best part. I was thinking, there are 30,000 people going to class right now and I get to play tennis on a sunny day with my teammates who I love … I don't want anything else in life."

Except the only thing that bumped all of that to the second-best part of her day, and that was picking up a 4-1 victory over rival Wyoming in the Border War at the CSU Tennis Complex, pushing the Colorado State women's tennis team to a 13-7 mark overall, 7-2 in Mountain West play and guaranteeing no less than the third seed for the upcoming conference tournament.

There is still a chance the Rams can end up the second seed, but it would require San Diego State to drop at least one match this weekend against either Air Force or New Mexico. Even still, the third seed stands as the best position the program has had in it's history, the previous being fifth.

The day also marked Senior Day recognition for Natal and four of her teammates – Somer Dalla-Bona, Tracy Guo, Anastasiia Kotsyuba and Matea Mihaljevic. That took place prior to the match being played, and the team managed the emotions of the moment and impressed first-year coach Mai-Ly Tran with how they attacked the day.

"There's a lot of mixed emotions and being at home and having the recognition in the beginning and trying to stay focused at the same time, but I think they did a good job of using it as fuel," Tran said. "They came out very strong in doubles, and that's something we've been working on. I'm proud of the way they started that match."

The Rams won the doubles point when the top two spots post victories, Somer Dalla-Bona and Sarka Richterova winning 6-2 at No. 1, followed by Radka Buzkova and Matea Mihaljevic at No. 2 with a 6-3 final. Individually, it was the 24^th doubles win of the year for Buzkova and Mihaljevic, giving them a program most in a single season; Dalla-Bona and Richterova both have 20 each, tying them for 10^th all time.

As quickly as the doubles point came, the first few singles points followed suit. Wyoming grabbed the first in straight sets at No. 6, but the Rams bounced back with quick wins from Natal and Mihaljevic.

Natal's season has played out that way as she's built an 18-3 record, with her past six wins all coming in straight sets without dropping more than three games in a set. Thursday's 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4 over Ida Krause was just more of the same.

The only difference was the prematch ceremony and being at home gave her a touch of the nerves, not that they showed.

"I have my own style of play. When I'm winning, I want to get done as soon as possible so I can cheer for my teammates," she said. "When I'm losing, I slow it down because I want to be on the court as much as possible. If I'm winning and I'm doing the right thing, I want to get off the court as soon as possible."

Her decision put the Rams one win away from clinching the team point, as Mihaljevic was just a bit quicker getting to her 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 5. The match was a bit of a breakthrough for the transfer from Troy, who had been struggling as of late.

She had started to show signs recently, but she hadn't been able to close out a match in while as four of her past five trips the court had gone unfinished with team points being clinched. But Thursday, she took a page out of Natal's book, getting up early and being unrelenting on the court.

"We would say she's back," Tran said. "She was struggling a bit in a few matches, but we know what she's capable of and she showed it today in doubles and singles. I'm happy that she could feel good in her match and contribute to the win in both doubles and singles."

None of the changes she made were physical, just mental.

She was trusting her game, just not herself. And a point here or there would take her somewhere else mentally. On this day, she said she went to the baseline confident, feeling she was going to win points and knowing what her next move in advance.

"Today I felt great. Being on the home court makes a lot of difference," Mihaljevic said. "Automatically I had a great feeling from doubles, and I was able to carry that into singles. I just didn't give my opponent a chance to bounce back even though there were some close games. I think that made the biggest difference, me taking the lead early and being in the lead throughout the whole match and not letting her flip the score.

"I've been working on controlling my emotions. I was getting really frustrated and my game wasn't what I know it can be. It was getting to my head. Obviously, you always want to win, and I know my abilities, but sometimes I was out of rhythm. I just wanted to keep my head steady, focus on every point and honestly keep working every point and get my feeling back and my game."

The other three matches were rather tight, and two of them had already gone to three sets, with Buzkova trying to get to a third at the top spot. Before she had the chance, Somer Dalla-Bona, who had the roughest first set of the bunch, rallied all the way back at No. 2 to post a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Sophie Zehender.

Tran thought the first set was an anomaly with the way Dalla-Bona has played of late. She also couldn't remember too many times she had dropped a first set in the second half of the season, which makes since because Dalla-Bona had only dropped two opening sets in conference play. But Thursday marked the first time she came back and won, and it secured the victory.

The seven conference wins are the most ever for the program, and the 13 wins are tied for the third-best season, with the 2005 team going 15-9, the 1996-97 squad 14-16. The Rams also won 13 matches in 1999 (13-11), 2001 (13-12) and 2004 (13-12). But Tran said the team isn't stopping just yet.

"It helps to have a bye, and that was a goal to be in the top five," she said. "To secure that is a relief, but we're not done. We're excited about our next match. It's all about getting some momentum to get into the tournament. I thought the girls were looking good, they were feeling good, and honestly, it was just nice to play at home and recognize the seniors and have them be able to win."

Colorado State closes out the regular season Saturday against Nevada (which will play Wyoming in Fort Collins on Friday at 10 a.m.). Saturday's match is slated for the CSU Tennis Complex at 12 p.m., but with inclement weather in the forecast, the alternate plan is to play the match indoors at the Fort Collins Country Club, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

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