Weekley Doubles Up on Doubles Titles

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FORT COLLINS – Playing doubles has never been her favorite thing about college tennis, which makes Sarah Weekley's results somewhat curious.

Sunday, the Colorado State junior claimed a doubles championship at the Jon Messick Invitational for the second consecutive year with a different partner. Last year it was with Ky Ecton, who was serving as a volunteer coach part of the weekend. This time around it was with Zara Lennon, as the tandem claimed the Gold bracket title with a 7-5 victory against Ana Morett and Megan Davies of Weber State.

Fun fact, Ecton and Lennon played together at the No. 2 spot for the Rams a season ago, and they both enjoy their time with Weekley as a partner. She likes playing with them too because they're patient with her knowing her uncertainty about doubles.

"I don't know. I try to have fun on the court," Weekley said. "Zara cares, but she doesn't care, you know? She handles me well, and there's no pressure and she has no expectations, I guess. I think I'm becoming a better player, and Ky and I won this. Then they were partners and they worked well together."

It was the one title the Rams claimed at the three-day event they hosted at the CSU Tennis Complex, though all four Rams walked off the courts the final day with a victory to pack in their bags. Weekley was the only singles player to have a championship match, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Wyoming's Noesjka Brink.

Lennon won her Gold third-place match with Morett, 6-3, 6-3, and Luana Avelar took third in the Green draw with her 6-4, 6-4 decision against Indya Nespor of Utah State. Freshman Logan Voeks beat Wyoming's Serina Abriola 7-6 (8), 6-2 in the Orange bracket.

Avelar and Voeks opened with doubles, dropping a 6-4 decision to Sicely Ferreira and Sydney Schnell, 6-4.

The approach to these fall events for CSU head coach Mai-Ly Tran is for her team to constantly be moving forward in preparation for the spring, and each individual has something they're trying to polish. It could be mental, physical or a little of both.

On Saturday, Weekley was at the courts long before anybody else because she had forgotten to take her journal home with her, and she wanted to arrive early to put down her thoughts from the day before and what she wanted to see later that day. Much of what is written in those pages is trying to move on from the player she was when she first arrived two seasons ago.

"I'm sticking to a routine now, which is helping me stay neutral and not be emotionally too ready. I've learned a routine that works for me," she said. "It's breathing and setting up first serve and a return. And no negativity. I mean, I slip sometimes, but it's better now -- I guess. It shows you're not down on yourself. I feel like this season I've got more tools in my toolbox."

Avelar is trying to add to her toolbelt, too. The weekend was a good test for part of what she's trying to achieve thanks to her parents, Andrea and Leo, being on hand from Brazil to see her play collegiately for the first time.

The sophomore's goals have a lot to do with her game on the court, but a big part of it is releasing herself from pressures she created outside of the white lines. Last year, she sought approval from those in attendance. This year, she said, she's controlling what she can, and what others think is outside of her purview.

Doing that also helps her make changes inside the lines, the only judgement on those gains being her very own.

"For me, it's stepping into the court for sure, stepping into my shots and playing closer to the baseline," she said. "I used to be very far behind it, but I'm working on staying with a steady base on the baseline and stepping into all my shots and working my way through the net. I'm trying to get the balls on the rise and not let them fall any more. I think it was 100 percent better this weekend."

Which is exactly what Tran wants to see. Working on something in practice is the first step. The most difficult one often is developing the confidence to take it into matches and make it muscle memory.

Those reps are important when it comes to cultivating a consistency in their altered style of play, and fall is the perfect time to make those adjustments.

"What we want to focus on is making sure we apply what we're doing in practice into the matches and getting into the habit of that. Also just seeing a huge improvement from the Bedford Cup to this weekend has been great," she said. "That's really all we want to get out of it and get better from the first day until the end of the fall.

"The biggest benefit from this tournament and our fall tournaments is definitely to get as many matches under our belt to improve and work on things and develop our games in time for spring. I think they're great preparation for our spring."

In Cary, N.C., a pair of Colorado State doubles team continued play in the ITA All-American Championships in the pre-qualifying draw, where assistant coach Pavel Zinchenko said both continued to improve the aspects of their games they were targeting. The tandem of Radka Buzkova and Victoria Erechtchenko fell in the quarterfinals to USC's Piper Grace and Parker Fry, 8-6; Sarka Richterova and Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya dropped an 8-5 match to Vanesa Suarez and Manami Ukita of Kansas State in the consolation round.

After the day was finished, the Buzkova/Erechtchenko team was informed another squad had dropped out, moving them into the qualifying draw beginning Monday. Buzkova was already in that draw as a singles player, meaning her day extended to three matches – one singles and two doubles.

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- STALWART -

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Luana Avelar

Radka Buzkova

Ky Ecton

Victoria Erechtchenko

Zara Lennon

Sarka Richterova

Logan Voeks

Sarah Weekley

Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya