Faced with injuries and hardship, Colorado State tennis has had trouble getting off the ground this season.
With the 5-1 loss to BYU Friday, the Rams’ losing streak extends to four. Their spirits are not broken, however. Although CSU has been dealing with injuries, it has also been adapting to their shortage of players.
The team has been picking up the pace but still has yet to achieve where they need to be on the court. Once the active players can overcome these obstacles, anything is possible.
“We are going to be playing with less players, and so then that kind of takes a toll on a team,” coach Mai-Ly Tran said, “As long as we’re doing the right things, and we’re getting better at that — it’ll take some time — but I feel pleased with the direction that we’re headed.”
Due to injuries, CSU had to forfeit two single matches and one double match. This created less opportunity for the Rams to gain extra wins and put them closer to where they needed to be.
Despite losing the contest, there were still some close matches showing that this team can still put up a fight.
Graduate Victoria Erechtchenko had the audience at the edge of their seats on two separate occasions — once in her single and once in her double.
She lost the first set of her single 6-1, but where most people would be discouraged, she showed she still had fight in her. In her second set, she kept it close and brought it to round 12. However, she fell short in the last minute and lost the set 7-5
“It really helps a lot when you have your teammates cheering for you, and all the fans coming definitely makes me want to fight more.” Erechtchenko said. “Because it feels like I’m not just playing for myself; I want to give the people up there something to watch — at least a show. Even if it’s a tough match, even if I don’t feel my best, even if it’s not going the way I would like it to.”
In the double with her and senior Sarah Weekley, the two showed how much fight the Rams can bring under pressure. The Rams and Cougars were back and forth for the entire match and brought it to 6-6 and went into tiebreaker.
The audience watched in anticipation as CSU and BYU competed in the tiebreaker. Ultimately, however, BYU prevailed and won the breaker 7-5.
It wasn’t all losses for the Rams, as graduate Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya secured back-to-back wins in her match.
“We have obviously high expectations for our team, and I just know our team is capable of so much.” Zhadzinskaya said, “It’s a start of the season only — we have a lot of matches coming — and we’re learning a lot from each, just, upgrading our game every time we play.”
Zhadzinskaya looked determined in her victories and showed that despite whatever the Rams have thrown at them, they still have a chance to prevail. She won her sets 6-3 and 6-2 respectively.
This competition proved that CSU still has some weak points to work out before it enters conference play. However, the team is still driven to perform their best and become the best version of themselves despite any circumstances that come their way.
“There’s things that we’ve talked to the team about, (like) discipline and (cleaning) up mistakes.” Tran said, “Just (to) be disciplined all around in our lives, and it’s the details I think that will help us — that will come together and get us closer in these matches.”
Reach Mason Ford at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @mason_ford2891.
