Colorado Begins Five-Match Road Trip

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes tennis team starts a five-match road trip spanning nearly a month against IUPUI on Saturday and Illinois on Sunday. This will mark the second straight season with a five-match road trip.

For the first time this season in an official dual match setting Colorado (3-0) will take the court against someone who doesn't share the same home state after competing against Air Force, Colorado State, and Denver.

The first competition will be against IUPUI on Saturday at the West Indy Racquet Club. This is only the second time the Buffs have faced the Jaguars, the first coming last season when the Buffs made quick work of a team with only five active players.

"I think IUPUI will be a good opportunity for some of our players who work hard and don't always get to play regularly a chance to compete," head coach Anthony Pham said. "I think that will give us a good match before we play Illinois."

The next day the Buffs will travel to take on Illinois at the Atkins Tennis Center with doubles beginning at 9:00 a.m. against the Fighting Illini. The Buffs will look for their first win against Illinois after losing the first three matchups. In the match in 2005, the Buffs fell on the road 4-3.

Illinois is coming off two straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a 17-10 record a year ago. Their first two matches of the season came against Northwestern and Notre Dame where they slit the two winning against the Wildcats. Both are teams that Colorado saw in hidden duals in the opening weekend at the Northwestern Tournament.

"I think every team on our schedule is good, and Illinois is no different," Pham commented. "I think the good news with our group is they already know what it's like to play on the road. Illinois is a very good team, very talented. They are always a top-25 team, but I think our group is confident. They are prepared and excited to go compete on Sunday."

Two of the players leading the charge in the early season are the No. 1 doubles pairing Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson, currently ranked No. 21 in the country. In their first season together, Bubalo and Nelson played exclusively at No. 3 doubles and began to make a name for themselves. They began together in the spring and went 11-6, including 5-4 in the Pac-12 the most conference wins on the team. Now just a year later they are controlling the top spot on the team and making waves across the country.

"They have both grown significantly individually as players," Pham on the duo. "They put in a lot of work over the summer, and again in the fall to continue making big strides."

The pairing's first event in the fall was at ITA Mountain Regionals where they were unseeded to start the tournament. A few days and six matches later, the duo was Regional Champions and heading to the NCAA Individual Championships. A few weeks later they made it to the round of 16 the first in CU history to do so.

"For them to see the work they put in get validated by results, that is a big confidence boost," Pham said. "They see not only for them but for the entire team, that we're doing the right things, and results will come as they keep improving."

The duo will look to continue leading the Buffs at the start of each match beginning this weekend with IUPUI and Illinois.

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Players Mentioned

Ema Bubalo

Anya Nelson