Colorado
Missouri
Tennis Ends Five-Match Skid, Defeats Mizzou, 5-2
April 03, 2010 | Tennis
BOULDER - Senior Monica Milewski won her respective singles match in three sets and added a doubles victory leading the University of Colorado women's tennis team to a 5-2 victory over the Missouri Tigers, Saturday afternoon at the Millennium Hotel Harvest House bubble.
The team victory breaks a five-match losing streak for the Buffaloes and evens their overall record at 8-8, in addition picking up their first win in Big 12 play at 1-4. Missouri playing their third straight road conference match, drops to 5-11 overall and 0-5 in the conference play. CU continues its dominance over Mizzou winning all 13 matches in Boulder and holding a commanding 25-2 advantage in the series dating back 1981.
CU started the morning off sweeping the doubles competition and securing a 1-0 advantage. It marked the seventh time this season the Buffs swept all three doubles slots improving to 7-2 with the extra point advantage.
At the No. 1 position, Milewski and sophomore Ania Anuszkiewicz won their 10th spring match and 13th overall for the year defeating Mallory Weber/Kaitlyn Ritchie, 8-4. The win was extra special for Milewski as she tied the school record for doubles victories (76) set by Franziska Jendrian last season.
The doubles match was clinched at No. 3 with senior Melisa Esposito and sophomore Madie Kern rallying to defeat Andrea Lewis/Kristen Bleakley, 9-7. Esposito/Kern playing for the first together this season, won the last four points of the match rallying from a 7-5 deficit. It was also Esposito's 74th career win (third overall at CU).
CU continued the sweep at No. 3 with Michala Hedelund Jensen and Abbie Probert, rallying from a 5-2 deficit for an 8-7(3) winner over Sofia Ayala and Jamie Mera. Hedelund Jensen/Probert improves to 6-3 and the pair has now won five of their last six matches.
In singles and holding a 1-0 lead, the home team continued momentum as Milewski rallied from a set down - her 10th win of her career from being down a set - defeating Kaitlyn Ritchie, 1-6, 6-0, 6-1. Milewski also picked up her 85th career win, tying for fourth overall on the school's all-time list. The doubles and singles wins, her 160th and 161st career victories, moves Milewski into a first place tie with Jendrian for the all-time school lead.
The Buffs added a trio of singles points at the No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 slots to round out the scoring.
Esposito defeated Jamie Mera, 6-2, 6-3 in straight sets for her 17th tally of the year and 10th of the spring. Esposito also recorded her 78th career singles win. At No. 4, Hedelund Jensen outlasted fellow Denmark countrywoman, Maria Christensen, 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 1-0(10) for her 12th win of the year; at No. 5, Anuszkiewicz won her seventh of the year, clinching the match with a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Sofia Ayala.
"Getting your first win in the Big 12 is always good and always fun, you prefer it to come at the first match of the season, rather than the fifth," said CU head coach Nicole Kenneally. "We're talking a lot what it means to be a fighter and what it means to be a competitor, and what we have to do between doubles and singles with our energy and attitude. I think we worked really hard for the win today and it was good to win at 5-2."
CU continues its three-match home stand hosting Kansas State (Fri., April 9, 2 p.m.) and Kansas (Sun., April 11, 11 a.m.) at the South Campus Courts this weekend.
No. 71 Colorado 5, Missouri 2
CU (8-8, 1-4 Big 12), Mizzou (5-11, 0-5 Big 12)
April 3, Millennium Hotel Harvest House, Boulder, Colo.
1d) Anuszkiewicz/Milewski (CU) def. Weber/Ritchie (Missouri) 8-4
2d) Hedelund Jensen/Probert (CU) def. Ayala/Mera (Missouri) 8-7(3)
3d) Esposito/Madie Kern (CU) def. Lewis/Kristen Bleakley (Missouri) 9-7
Order of Finish: 1, *3, 2
1s) (121) Monica Milewski (CU) def. Kaitlyn Ritchie (Missouri) 1-6, 6-0, 6-1
2s) (110) Melisa Esposito (CU) def. Jamie Mera (Missouri) 6-2, 6-3
3s) Mallory Weber (Missouri) def. Abbie Probert (CU) 6-3, 6-0
4s) Michala Hedelund Jensen (CU) def. Maria Christensen (Missouri) 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 1-0(10)
5s) Ania Anuszkiewicz (CU) def. Sofia Ayala (Missouri) 6-4, 6-3
6s) Andrea Lewis (Missouri) def. Erin Sanders 7-6(4), 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2, *5, 6, 4
COLORADO MATCH NOTES
- Melisa Esposito and Monica Milewski each have won 10 spring singles matches.
- CU improves to 4-2 at home
- Monica Milewski won her 20th win of the year. It's the second time in her four years to win 20-plus. She has won eight of nine singles matches, and nine of her last 11.
- Saturday's match is the first of three-straight home matches, a school-first since the 2003 spring season when CU played three consecutive April matches against conference opponents.
- CU breaks a five-match losing streak the longest since 2005 when CU lost five-straight road matches.
- In doubles, Milewski and Ania Anuszkiewicz have 13 doubles triumphs.
- Monica Milewski (161) ties Franziska Jendrian for the most wins ever by a CU women's tennis player (161 victories). Melisa Esposito is No. 3 on the list with 152.
- Monica Milewski doubles win ties Franziska Jendrian for the most doubles wins in school history (76). Melisa Esposito stands in third with 74.
- On the career singles wins list, Milewski (85, tied for fourth) and Esposito (78, ninth).
Players Mentioned
