FORT COLLINS – The first weekend of the 2024 dual season will be a flurry of activity for Mai-Ly Tran‘s squad, playing a pair of matches to get the season underway.
Coming off a program-record 16-dual win season, Colorado State’s women’s tennis team is set to open the campaign with a home match with North Dakota on Saturday (2 p.m.) at the Fort Collins Country Club. Sunday, the team hits the road for a match with Denver (4 p.m.) at the Denver Tennis Center.
There will be a live stream from both venues: CSU | Denver
The Rams last appeared on the court in November, competing at the SDSU Fall Classic No. 2, winning a trio of titles. What awaits next is 21 duals, the first 11 nonconference matchups.
“For us, we are looking to get back into match form. We’ve had a long break since the fall season and our team is all eager to get back on the court and compete again as a team,” Tran said. “They’ve all done their job to prepare, and this is the part where we get to enjoy how it all can pay off. It will be nice to kick off the season on our home courts. We love playing in Fort Collins in front of our fans and supporters. This weekend will be a good test to see where our team is at. We can’t wait.”
North Dakota has already played a pair of duals, dropping matches to Montana State and Seattle and will play at Air Force on Friday. The Pioneers will open their season Saturday against Air Force.
The Rams are coming off a 16-8 season a year ago, setting a record for the most dual victories. Part of that was a program-record seven consecutive duals wins, and the team enters Saturday with a 12-match home win streak on the line – also a program record.
Tran will put an experienced team on the court, starting with graduate student Radka Buzkova, the first Ram in history to be named All-Mountain West in both singles and doubles in back-to-back years. In the fall, she moved into the CSU top 10 for career doubles victories with 53, sliding into a tie for seventh with Alana Colglazer. Teammate Sarka Richterova is closing in on cracking the list, needing five more this season. Also back are Luana Avelar, Zara Lennon, Sarah Weekley and Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya. Every returner won at least 15 singles matches a season ago, and Richterova and Zhadzinskaya paired to set the program record for single-season dual wins at the No. 3 doubles spot with 13.
Reinforcements to the lineup come in the form of transfer Victoria Erechtchenko and freshman Logan Voeks.
The fall gave Tran an idea of how the latest edition of the team can blend together and perform, providing encouragement for the spring portion of the season.
“I learned this team takes a lot of pride in their individual games. Everyone wants to improve, and they are hungry to play well and win this season,” she said. “Each team member has bought into what will make this team successful and it’s great to see us all working towards one common goal.”
Admission is free for both matches. Saturday, bandanas will be issued to the first 50 fans through the doors.
Top 10 Watch
Career Singles Wins
8. Alyssa Grijalva, 56
Dasha Zhurin, 56
Bobbe Vasos, 56
Closing in:Radka Buzkova, 53
Career Doubles Wins
4. Alyssa Grijalva, 58
Catherine Sullivan-Sauvageau, 58
6. Allison Lisle, 56
7. Radka Buzkova, 53
Alana Colglazer, 53
9. Laura Neal, 49
Alexandra Paganetti, 49
Closing in: Sarka Richterova, 44