Rams Sweep Through Opening Round

Everybody was winning, but somebody had to be the one, the person who put the morning to rest. To put the necessary decisive point on the board. It wasn’t a question of when, but who?

“It’s so much fun, that we had that many opportunities on so many courts,” freshman Logan Voeks said. “(Sarah) Weekley was up like 40-0 in her last game, but Vici (Erechtchenko) and I ran over the last court because Vika (Zhadzinskaya) got to 40-0. That’s an amazing feeling.”

It was a race to the finish which Zhadzinskaya didn’t know she was in, but she won anyhow, putting away Giovanna Sanchirico of Air Force 6-2, 6-1, the fourth and final point Colorado State’s women’s tennis team needed to advance out of the first round of the Mountain West Tournament with a 4-0 sweep of their in-state rival.

The Rams will next face rival Wyoming at 3 p.m. (MT) in the quarterfinals at the Darling Tennis Center. The Cowgirls, with a first-round bye, came out to watch and what they witnessed was a rout.

The closest the Falcons came to sniffing success was in doubles, when it’s No. 2 pairing was the first to post a win. It wouldn’t count on the board as the Rams’ No. 3 trio of Voeks and Luana Avelar won 6-2, followed soon after by a victory from the top line of Radka Buzkova and Zhadzinskaya, 6-4. It was the 27^th doubles win of the season for Buzkova, seizing the program record from herself and former partner Matea Mihaljevic back in 2021-22.

In singles, the Rams were even more impressive. On the six courts, they each won their first set. There was no momentum swing which was about to follow, as the rest of the morning was simply more of the same.

Buzkova pushed it to 2-0 with her win, then a few minutes later, Zara Lennon made it 3-0. Combined, the two of them won so handily their opponent’s scores would have produced a set. Buzkova’s win over Nadia Kojonroj at No. 2 was 6-0, 6-2. Lennon, a court over, put the finishing touches on her 6-1, 6-3 decision at No. 1.

They both packed their bags, congratulated each other and then went and joined the rest of the crowd to see what all the fuss was about.

Weekley was on the verge of a matching straight-sets score at No. 4 before Zhadzinskaya, who didn’t totally understand how dominant the Rams were playing quietly snuck in her 6-2, 6-1 victory on the court furthest away.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t know everyone was winning because I was on the last court,” Zhadzinskaya said. “I either couldn’t hear, or I was too focused on my match. Actually, I heard a couple of sets, but I didn’t know I’d be finishing the match. I was just locked in, trying to get the point.

“I like to play next to Sarka (Richterova), and it’s good energy going around. I was a bit nervous about how the other courts were going.”

There was no need because the rest of her teammates were cruising.

For a coach, there’s no better way to open a tournament. Mai-Ly Tran and her staff had talked to the team about coming in with high energy, and they did so. It was also a positive energy, because the mishaps and misfires which are guaranteed in a match didn’t spiral into anything more than a momentary glitch.

The only thing the Rams extended was an elevated level of play.

“With doubles, when you start the tournament there’s always nerves, but I think they handled those nerves really well,” Tran said. “They stayed positive in doubles, and that helped with our momentum. The way they started in singles they made a statement. We were playing our game, our tennis, and they wanted every single point. They put pressure on Air Force, and it was hard for them to fight back.”

Being a tournament, there were some nerves, but the Rams just swatted them aside.

At least one of them literally.

“There were definitely some nerves at first. I think we came out super strong, but I vividly remember in our last return game, I told Lu (Avelar) I was definitely feeling the nerves, so I was just going to smack the ball and see how it went,” Voeks said. “It ended up working well. They were good nerves today. They were productive nerves.”

Zhadzinskaya felt them, too. She didn’t have to fire away at any one particular ball to get them to exit her body, it was just a constant repetition of winning a point and high-fiving the other half of the All-Mountain West doubles team to leave them behind. By singles time, she was fine.

By Thursday, she expects to be even better, bolstered by her performance.

“I’m extremely happy. Honestly, I was nervous, but I’m proud of myself and the way I overcame it,” she said. “It’s the best feeling.
It gives me confidence. I’m coming tomorrow more confident that I need to take care of myself and come in stronger. I’m super excited about tomorrow.”

Which puts them square in front of a Wyoming team the Rams lost to the final match of the regular season. In that match, the Rams came out with energy, but the Cowgirls took it back and ran with it in singles.

For the tournament to continue, Colorado State realizes it has to have more of the same from Wednesday.

“Just the way they won, and in that fashion, and made a statement, it’s what we’re capable of,” Tran said. “We got the jitters out. It’s quick momentum into the next match.”

For the team, it was great to see, as long as they could figure out exactly what to watch to know when exactly to start the celebration.