Colorado State University Athletics
Sunday, January 25
Fort Collins, CO
12:30 PM
Colorado State
1
vs
4
Montana State
Rams Drop Match to Split Weekend
1/25/2026 5:44:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Team takes away lessons from changes known and unseen
Change is inevitable in athletics. For a tennis team, it will hit during a season, a match, a set and even a game. Some of it will be calculated, some will come via circumstance.
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Even a mix of both, as was the case in Sunday's 4-1 defeat to Montana State at the Fort Collins Country Club.
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"There are a lot of things to take away from the match, and we will go back and take a look at all those things when I think it's not as emotional. I think it's always tough losing," Colorado State coach Mai-Ly Tran said. "There were opportunities for some players to play and kind of learn some things, and so I think it was just hard. We weren't really close to full strength, and we've got kind of a younger team that has room to grow. It's just lessons to be learned."
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Change is in the fabric of Colorado State's women's tennis team with three transfers and four freshmen. In non-conference play, the need to explore the possibilities is necessary, and Tran did so this opening weekend of play. Going into Sunday's match, she had altered a couple of doubles teams in the matchup with Montana State. Calculated.
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When those matches finished is when circumstance hit. Luana Avelar, slated for the top singles slot for CSU, was pulled with in a lingering health issues, sliding the rest of the lineup up one spot.
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Colorado State claimed the doubles point when the No. 2 tandem of Diana Lizarazo and Leyla Tozin broke the tie with a 6-4 victory, turning the 4-all score to their advantage with a break and then closing it out on Lizarazo's serve. The No. 3 team of Sorcha Caves and Dylan Voeks had wrapped up previously with a 6-2 decision.
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In singles play, the Rams dropped the top four slots, and thus, the match. In two instances, Colorado State won the opening set only to drop the next two.
As Tran noted, part of the opening lineup was by circumstance at the start, with Logan Voeks still not playing singles and two other injured players still watching from the side. But it is early, and the non-conference part of the slate is the time to find some answers for the changes which will be forthcoming, one way or the other.
Â
Hanna Haber knows this to be true. She might be new to the team, but the graduate student is a veteran of the game. She likes the mettle of the team assembled to find the desired pathway.
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"I think it's something the coaches really put the focus on this semester as being adaptable. We talked a lot about adaptability and about working with this new team," Haber said. "We have a new team of girls. We have a ton of different people trying to figure out how to work together, how to be on a team together. It's all about figuring out each other and figuring out how to work with one another. And when a change happens, for example, with Luana not playing, having freshmen like Leyla step up and just immediately hop on the court, and then seeing Dylan get ready, get warm, and then Anni (Amalnathan) was adjustable.
Â
"All the freshmen have been really, really great in adapting to the new circumstances. The transfers like Sorcha and Annika (Planinsek) have just been able to hop right in and do what they can. They're always asking, how can I help, how can I step in? And just knowing that everybody's got each other's backs has been really, really comforting to me."
Â
As this team grows together – and they will hit the road for a Friday doubleheader this week in the state of Washington – there are going to be a lot of questions. The coaches will have their own set to decipher, but so do the players.
Â
Haber may have experience, but she still has questions. She also remembers her freshman season and how many she asked and some she wasn't sure she should.
Â
A vocal leader on the team, she said sharing knowledge – asked or not – is important. And if that means answering something unasked, so be it.
Â
"I know they might not ask them, and I know they might have questions about them because I'm someone who has a lot of questions still," Haber said. "Whenever a question pops in my mind, I think, 'oh, maybe somebody else has a question to that.'
Â
"I think the secret to success for our team is going to be over communication. There's no such thing. It's about working with each other and finding a new balance and being adaptable and all those things that we did today, even though we didn't come out with a win."
Â
But the answer could lead to future victories. A team will take shape throughout a season, but the really good ones don't enter them a finished product.
Â
They collect information and apply it where necessary. They take the setbacks and try to turn them into gains. The opening weekend was split for Trans' squad, but it can definitely lead to gains if viewed once the emotions settle and practice begins anew.
Â
"We still have some work to do. I have a lot of belief in this team very early on for such a young team," she said. "I definitely thought they were ready, but once you have opponents, you learn when they're tested there's still some areas that they could work on."
Â
And the changes they learn to control and make materialize will be the most valuable of them all.
Â
Â
Even a mix of both, as was the case in Sunday's 4-1 defeat to Montana State at the Fort Collins Country Club.
Â
"There are a lot of things to take away from the match, and we will go back and take a look at all those things when I think it's not as emotional. I think it's always tough losing," Colorado State coach Mai-Ly Tran said. "There were opportunities for some players to play and kind of learn some things, and so I think it was just hard. We weren't really close to full strength, and we've got kind of a younger team that has room to grow. It's just lessons to be learned."
Â
Change is in the fabric of Colorado State's women's tennis team with three transfers and four freshmen. In non-conference play, the need to explore the possibilities is necessary, and Tran did so this opening weekend of play. Going into Sunday's match, she had altered a couple of doubles teams in the matchup with Montana State. Calculated.
Â
When those matches finished is when circumstance hit. Luana Avelar, slated for the top singles slot for CSU, was pulled with in a lingering health issues, sliding the rest of the lineup up one spot.
Â
Colorado State claimed the doubles point when the No. 2 tandem of Diana Lizarazo and Leyla Tozin broke the tie with a 6-4 victory, turning the 4-all score to their advantage with a break and then closing it out on Lizarazo's serve. The No. 3 team of Sorcha Caves and Dylan Voeks had wrapped up previously with a 6-2 decision.
Â
In singles play, the Rams dropped the top four slots, and thus, the match. In two instances, Colorado State won the opening set only to drop the next two.
As Tran noted, part of the opening lineup was by circumstance at the start, with Logan Voeks still not playing singles and two other injured players still watching from the side. But it is early, and the non-conference part of the slate is the time to find some answers for the changes which will be forthcoming, one way or the other.
Â
Hanna Haber knows this to be true. She might be new to the team, but the graduate student is a veteran of the game. She likes the mettle of the team assembled to find the desired pathway.
Â
"I think it's something the coaches really put the focus on this semester as being adaptable. We talked a lot about adaptability and about working with this new team," Haber said. "We have a new team of girls. We have a ton of different people trying to figure out how to work together, how to be on a team together. It's all about figuring out each other and figuring out how to work with one another. And when a change happens, for example, with Luana not playing, having freshmen like Leyla step up and just immediately hop on the court, and then seeing Dylan get ready, get warm, and then Anni (Amalnathan) was adjustable.
Â
"All the freshmen have been really, really great in adapting to the new circumstances. The transfers like Sorcha and Annika (Planinsek) have just been able to hop right in and do what they can. They're always asking, how can I help, how can I step in? And just knowing that everybody's got each other's backs has been really, really comforting to me."
Â
As this team grows together – and they will hit the road for a Friday doubleheader this week in the state of Washington – there are going to be a lot of questions. The coaches will have their own set to decipher, but so do the players.
Â
Haber may have experience, but she still has questions. She also remembers her freshman season and how many she asked and some she wasn't sure she should.
Â
A vocal leader on the team, she said sharing knowledge – asked or not – is important. And if that means answering something unasked, so be it.
Â
"I know they might not ask them, and I know they might have questions about them because I'm someone who has a lot of questions still," Haber said. "Whenever a question pops in my mind, I think, 'oh, maybe somebody else has a question to that.'
Â
"I think the secret to success for our team is going to be over communication. There's no such thing. It's about working with each other and finding a new balance and being adaptable and all those things that we did today, even though we didn't come out with a win."
Â
But the answer could lead to future victories. A team will take shape throughout a season, but the really good ones don't enter them a finished product.
Â
They collect information and apply it where necessary. They take the setbacks and try to turn them into gains. The opening weekend was split for Trans' squad, but it can definitely lead to gains if viewed once the emotions settle and practice begins anew.
Â
"We still have some work to do. I have a lot of belief in this team very early on for such a young team," she said. "I definitely thought they were ready, but once you have opponents, you learn when they're tested there's still some areas that they could work on."
Â
And the changes they learn to control and make materialize will be the most valuable of them all.
Â
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- RELENTLESS -
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- RELENTLESS -
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Nia Gelashvili / 0 [MSU]
276
653
#2 Singles Match
12
Anna Wise / 0 [MSU]
66
24
#3 Singles Match
123
Angel Bean / 0 [MSU]
166
610
#4 Singles Match
12
Terezie Stverakova / 0 [MSU]
66
32
#5 Singles Match
123
Kavya Khirwar / 0 [MSU]
20UF
61UF
#6 Singles Match
12
Lola Bean / 0 [MSU]
0UF
0UF
Order of Finish:
2,3,1,4
Players Mentioned
/ 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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