Shorthanded Buffs Fall to No. 17 UCF

BOULDER – A shorthanded Colorado came up short at home Friday afternoon at the CU South Tennis Courts, 4-0, as the Buffaloes lost its eighth straight match.

Colorado (6-9, 0-7 Big 12) returned home but played without Aya El Sayed and Rixt van der Werff, who missed today's match against UCF (15-1, 7-0 Big 12) due to injury.

"Credit to UCF," head coach Anthony Pham said. They're a good team. They are ranked 17 for a reason. We've seen it time and time again; these matches hinge on just a couple of points here and there, and doubles is the same thing. We lost a close doubles point; No. 3 doubles were right there, and the same thing happened with singles. They're a good team. They're deep, but we're in a third set with Lera [Alexin], in a third set with Mila [Stanojevic, Pia [Rebec] is up a set, and in a tiebreaker. Against good teams, it's just a couple of points. Today, we battled and fought; we just weren't able to make a couple more plays and execute more points."

Colorado didn't have an individual match win but was one game away in one doubles match and two singles matches.

"Our team does a good job of whatever the obstacle is; we go out and play," Pham commented. "We're down a couple of starters, and the team continues to go out there and battle. We will try to regroup, recover, and get ready for Sunday against Houston."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The action started in doubles with Alexin and Stanojevic at No. 2 doubles against Sophia Biolay and Aya El Aouni. Much like many of the matches that followed, it came down to a handful of points. The match was tied 4-4, with the deuce point tied 40-40. After a rally, the point went to UCF, giving them a 5-4 lead before claiming the first match 6-4.

Ema Bubalo and Anya Nelson played their first doubles match together in conference against the No. 30 ranked duo Olivia Lincer and Hannah Rylatt. The Colorado pair got down early, and despite a late comeback effort, UCF won the match 6-3, giving them a 1-0 lead with the doubles point.

Rebec and Betina Tokac were closing in on a win for the second match in a row when the doubles point was clinched. They led 5-3 against Olivia Bergler and Donatella Guarnieri when the point was clinched.

Colorado started slowly in singles play; Tokac was the first to finish at No. 2 singles. She faced off against No. 119-ranked El Aouni and fell 6-1, 6-2.

Playing singles for the second straight match, Nelson lost the first set 6-1 to Rylatt at No. 6 singles. In the second set, Nelson was down but battled back to make it 5-4 but could not force a third set, losing 6-4, giving the Knights a 3-0 lead.

Returning after missing the last match, Bubalo played at No. 3 singles against No. 85-ranked Biolay. Each set had chances, but the Knights won 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the match 4-0.

The remaining three matches were left unfinished. Stanojevic was one game away from completing a comeback at No. 1 singles against No. 110-ranked Lincer. After losing the first set 6-2, she responded with a 6-2 second set win of her own and led 5-3 when the match was clinched.

At No. 4 singles, Rebec won the first set 6-2 against Jade Psonka, the only Buff to win her first set. After trailing 5-2 in the second set, she rattled off four straight games to force a tiebreaker. She was tied 5-5 in the tiebreaker when the match was clinched.

Alexin opened the match by winning the first three games against Bergler at No. 5 singles but ended up losing the first set 7-5. She responded in the second set with a 6-4 win to force a third set right before the match was clinched.

UP NEXT
Colorado will return to the courts against Houston on Sunday. The match will begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Meadows Club.

RESULTS
No. 17 UCF 4, Colorado 0
March 21, 2025
Boulder, Colo. (CU South Tennis Courts)

Doubles

No. 30 Olivia Lincer/ Hannah Rylatt (UCF)def. No. 45 Ema Bubalo/Anya Nelson (CU) 6-3
Sophia Biolay/Aya El Aouni (UCF) def. Lera Alexin/Mila Stanojevic (CU) 6-4
Pia Rebec/Betina Tokac (CU) vs. Olivia Bergler/Donatella Guarnieri (UCF) 5-3

Order of Finish: (2,1*)

Singles

Mila Stanojevic (CU) vs. No. 110 Olivia Lincer (UCF) 2-6, 6-2, 5-3, unf.
No. 111 Aya El Aouni (UCF) def. Betina Tokac (CU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 85 Sophia Biolay (UCF) def. Ema Bubalo (CU) 6-4, 7-5
Pia Rebec (CU) vs. Jade Psonka (UCF) 6-2, 6-6 (5-5), unf.
Lera Alexin (CU) vs. Olivia Bergler (UCF) 5-7, 6-4, unf.
Hannah Rylatt (UCF) def. Anya Nelson (CU) 6-1, 6-4

Order of Finish: (2,6,3*)

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Lera Alexin

Ema Bubalo

Aya El Sayed

Anya Nelson

Pia Rebec

Mila Stanojevic

Betina Tokac

Rixt van der Werff