El Sayed's 100th Win Powers No. 65 Buffs Over CSU

FORT COLLINS – Colorado's Aya El Sayed won her 100th career match on Sunday and the No. 65 Buffaloes' tennis team closed out non-conference play with a 4-1 win over Colorado State on the road at the CSU Tennis Complex. The win extends the Buffs win streak to 10 matches.

Anthony Pham's Buffs improved to 8-1 away from Boulder this year while improving the overall record to 11-1, with the best non-conference winning percentage in program history. The Rams fell to 4-4 on the season. Colorado finished the month of February 9-0.

For the first time since competing at the ITA Kickoff nearly a month ago, Colorado competed outdoors and it showed early on in the match. It took some time to adjust to the different conditions and make the necessary adjustments.

After losing the doubles point, the Buffs began to find their footing in singles with the catalyst being Elys Ventura. From the outset of the match, Ventura controlled the courts, losing only three games total in her straight-set win to tie the match for Colorado.

"We played Friday night indoors, and we got a little bit yesterday outside but it's just a good maturity about them," Pham commented on playing outside. "Whatever the circumstances are, wherever we got to play inside outside, at home or away, we just compete. I think it's a good trait of a good team."

With the momentum beginning to swing back in favor of the Buffs, Betina Tokac added to her undefeated spring with a straight-set win to put some pressure on Colorado State.

With the four remaining courts still in play it was, Alexandra Abyasova who would continue strong play for the Buffs. In the first set, Abyasova found herself in a back-and-forth first set that ultimately finished in her favor after being down 6-5 a game earlier. After pulling away for a straight-set victory of her own, immediately after her opponent was hit with a code violation after hitting her racquet on the ground in frustration.

With the code violation, a point would normally be awarded to a different court, but minutes later El Sayed clinched not only the match but her 100th career victory in the process.

Keeping it ??

Congrats Aya on reaching 100 career doubles and singles wins!#GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/Uszk4xl1ou
— Colorado Buffaloes Tennis (@CUBuffsTennis) February 25, 2024

"It's crazy, one of my teammates was just telling me and I was like 100 is a big number," El Sayed on winning her 100th match. "I don't know, I'm just happy I made it this far and hopefully from now on, I can continue building this stuff."

For El Sayed the match was no walk in the park, she had to battle back in both of her sets, the first ending in a tiebreaker, the second 6-3 win to give the Buffs a 4-1 win.

"Aya is Ms. Consistency," Pham said on El Sayed. "She went from playing three, four last year to one this year and the great thing is you know what you're going to get from her all the time. It's good when your, your best player exhibits the values and characteristics your program is about, hard work, being a really good teammate, being a good person, and just bring it every day."

Colorado moves to 6-0 on the season when this lineup is on the court, remaining undefeated at No. 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles in those six matches.

"I'm proud of our group, Pham said on the win. "Match after match, no matter what the circumstances are, whether we're inside or outside, windy or not windy they just come out and compete. If you do the right things over and over and you battle good things are going to happen."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mila Stanojevic and Ventura got off to a hot start early in doubles, leading 3-1, but CSU's Lennon and Weekley would go on to win the next five games to get the first win of the day 6-3 at No. 2 doubles.
On the flip side, El Sayed and Pia Rebec had to come back after losing the first three games but managed to tie the match 3-3. Buzkova and Zhadzinskaya retook control and won the next three games to clinch the doubles point for Colorado State.
Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson were one game away from clinching their doubles match over the Rams Richterova and Voeks when the doubles point was clinched.
At No. 2 singles for Ventura after losing on Friday against Northern Arizona, she bounced back dominating 6-1, 6-2 over Radka Buzkova tying her season best by losing only three games. The win tied the match 1-1 early in singles.
For Tokac at No. 4 singles, after losing the first game of the match, she would go on to lose only three games the rest of the match, winning 6-1, 6-3 taking down Luana Avelar to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
No. 5 singles, Abyasova after leading most of the first set was down 6-5 to Sarka Richterova needing to force a tiebreaker to win the first set, and force a tiebreaker she did. After forcing a tiebreaker, Abyasova hurried through winning the set 7-6(3). In the second set, she began to break her opponent, slowly taking game after game until she found herself with a 6-3 win.
For El Sayed at No. 1 singles, she had to constantly be battling back early but found herself in a similar situation as Abyasova down 6-5 needing one more game to force a tiebreaker against Zara Lennon. Also, much like Abyasova, she did just that as well as take the tiebreaker to win the first set 7-6(3). In the second set El Sayed found herself down early again but this time it would not take a tiebreaker because she would take control and finish the match with a 6-3 second set win.

"I feel like the conditions today were a little bit tricky," El Sayed on the match. "I was having a little bit of trouble in the beginning. It wasn't easy at all getting used to the conditions right away. It took a while to get used to it. But then I was just trying to focus point by point and push it even though I wasn't feeling anything good today, but I mean, it worked out in the end."

Two matches were left unfinished in the third set, Rebec and Stanojevic both trailed 4-3 when the match was clinched.

NOTES

Colorado moves to 11-1, marking the best non-conference win percentage (91.6%) in program history.
The win moves the all-time series record against Colorado State to 41-1.
Aya El Sayed won the 100th career match of her career combining both doubles and singles wins.
Betina Tokac and Alexandra Abyasova remain undefeated this spring with records of 5-0 and 8-0 respectively.

UP NEXT
Colorado will have next week off before starting the final season of Pac-12 play at home against Oregon on March 8. The Buffs will look to win their second straight match against Oregon after beating them in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament last season.

"I think we're in a good spot, but I think the off week comes a good time too," Pham said. We've got a lot of exams and I think a couple of them are a little banged up, so it's a good time for us to get a good week of training and also just be able to take a little bit of a deep breath and get refocused. We know the Pac-12 has 10 of the 11 teams ranked nationally. We have our work cut out for us, but we were excited to take on the challenge."

RESULTS
No. 65 Colorado 4, Colorado State 1
February 25, 2024
Fort Collins, Colorado (CSU Tennis Complex)

Doubles
1.    Buzkova/ Zhadzinskaya (CSU) def. El Sayed/Rebec (CU) 6-3
2.    Lennon/Weekley (CSU) def. Stanojevic/Ventura (CU) 6-3
3.    Bubalo/Nelson (CU) vs. Richterova/Voeks (CSU) 5-4, unf.
Order of Finish: (2,1*)

Singles
1.    Aya El Sayed (CU) def. Zara Lennon (CSU) 7-6(3), 6-3
2.    Elys Ventura (CU) def. Radka Buzkova (CSU) 6-1, 6-2
3.    Mila Stanojevic (CU) vs. Sarah Weekley (CSU) 6-1, 5-7, 3-4, unf.
4.    Betina Tokac (CU) def. Luana Avelar (CSU) 6-1, 6-3
5.    Alexandra Abyasova (CU) def. Sarka Richterova (CSU) 7-6(3), 6-4
6.    Pia Rebec (CU) vs. Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya (CSU) 6-7(1), 6-2, 4-3, unf.
Order of Finish: (2,4,5,1*)

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Players Mentioned

Alexandra Abyasova

Ema Bubalo

Aya El Sayed

Anya Nelson

Pia Rebec

Mila Stanojevic

Betina Tokac

Elys Ventura