Before every match, all a tennis player wants is consistency.
If that just isn’t the case on any given day, for whatever the reason, the requisite replacement is persistence.
It’s a skillset as much as a bomb of a first serve, a strong forehand or a slicing backhand. For Sarka Richterova, it’s becoming her calling card.
The year prior, she played 13 three-set matches. This season – just 13 matches young – she’s already played nine, and her fifth such win of the season was part of the extending Colorado State’s women’s tennis team’s home win streak to 14 consecutive matches Friday at the Fort Collins Country Club with a 6-1 victory over Abilene Christian.
“I’ve always been struggling with consistency, trying to stay at the same level the whole match, so I’ve created mechanisms for it to go with the flow,” Richterova said. “The worst thing is when it gets into your head and then you start making mistakes because of nerves or something. I just try to shake if off, go to the next one and keep fighting.”
Dropping the first set 6-2 wasn’t an issue, as she came back to take the second 6-1, then grinded out a tight 6-4 closing decision against Andrea Guerrero at the No. 4 position.
She smiles at the vast number of three-set matches she has played so far, and no, it’s not about getting as much tennis in as she can in her final season. What she does has is a game plan which involves long matches, designed to keep her from getting angry. She used to, just no more. She’ll bounce a ball a certain number of times, a way to gather herself.
“I feel like the head you can adjust,” she said. “You cannot adjust a few missed balls.”
She’s done this so much as late, some of her teammates almost expect her to go three sets. To them, it’s a bit uncanny, almost unfathomable.
CSU coach Mai-Ly Tran is with them, to a point.
“If she loses the first set, I expect her to go three. If she wins the first one, I don’t expect it,” Tran said with a smile. “What I can expect is she will fight. She has the will to win. No matter how she’s playing, she has the belief in herself to win, and it’s so awesome to witness how she can do that every single day. I think it really inspires the rest of the team to know how impactful it is to believe in yourself and fight every time.
“I think it’s what makes her so strong. She frustrated her opponent, and her opponent played well, but it made it so tough for her opponent to win any single point. She hung in there, waited for her opportunities and took care of it.”
Teammate Sarah Weekley needed an even longer three-setter to dispatch Olivia Sears at No. 3. They both won a set 6-3 (Weekley the first), then the final one came down to a tiebreak, which Weekley took control of in a 7-6 (3) win.
The team’s other three victories came in straight sets, as Radka Buzkova and Zara Lennon cruised at the top two spots, Buzkova winning 6-1, 6-1 over Maryjoe Crisologo at No. 1, Lennon with matching 6-3 scores against Maria Cascos.
Those three victories, paired with the Rams’ first doubles point of the season clinched the victory, but the teams played out every spot.
It not only was CSU’s first doubles point of the season, but their first two wins. Tran left the top tandem of Buzkova and Lennon in place, and they responded with a 6-1 victory. The win for Buzkova was the 54th of her career, leaving her all alone in the seventh spot on the career list.
The second two teams were switched, with Richterova and Logan Voeks posting a 6-3 decision. Weekley and Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya were coming on strong when play was halted, rallying back to a 4-all score.
“We had more of a game plan. We had three new teams this year, so I think we were understanding it was going to take some time where we’re not going to be playing our best doubles quite yet and we’re still going to be figuring some things out,” Tran said. “We had more of a plan, and I think they felt comfortable with that, and it showed. They played better.”
At the No. 5 spot, Luana Avelar found the consistency she’s been seeking, pushing through at the end of the first set against Masha Vrsalovic for a 6-4 advantage, then using the surge to post a 6-1 closing set for the win.
The two took turns at breaking each other’s serve – twice each – before Avelar calmed her thoughts and found her groove.
“I was like, ‘OK, she’s not breaking mine,’ so I worked really hard to make my service game,” Avelar said. “I think having that focus helped me throughout the rest of the match.”
Avelar thinks she played more consistently at points last year in her freshman campaign, but Friday, especially the second set, was a bit of a breakthrough for her.
Tran felt it was as well.
“I’m pleased to see her bounce back the way she did. She knew her opponent and had played her a few years ago in juniors, so I think that going into it gave her some confidence,” Tran said. “That’s the best I’ve seen her play this year. She’s been practicing well, but it’s so awesome to see her enjoying and playing the well she did today.”
After a loss to Denver, the whole team wanted to bounce back, which Tran felt they did. With nearly two weeks of practice before their next match (Feb. 10 vs. Missouri), the goal is to carry forward this moment.
Avelar, feeling energized by her performance, has a plan for how to fill the gap. In her mind, those sessions should look the same as Friday.
“I feel what’s most important right now is seeing every practice as if it was a game day. I think that’s what I’m going to work on – is what we all should work on – is be present, have the equipment ready and treat every practice as if its game day,” she said. “I think that would be a good mentality and we’ll be ready for the next one.”
A consistent approach to be sure. But, if necessary, they will be ready to fight it all the way through.