In the first regular conference game of the season, Colorado State tennis endured a 4-0 loss against Nevada Friday. Despite the loss, the team’s strongest pairing shined in their double.
But as the Rams embark further on the season, they are at the point where they need to begin finding their footing.
“It was a tough match today,” coach Mai-Ly Tran said. “Right now, we just focused on that match. And obviously, we have another conference match on Sunday, but we competed. … We just have to learn from this match and focus on the next one.”
The match started with two double matches — Sarah Weekley and Victoria Erechtchenko in on court one while Diana Lizarazo and Viktoryia Zhadzinskaya stood their ground on court two. The latter began their set up 4-2 but lost. The former pair secured a decisive victory.
Weekley and Erechtchenko won their double set 6-0, marking the pairings fourth consecutive win together. Heading into the rest of the season, the duo is looking to become one of the chief scorers on the team.
“I think we’re also improving,” Weekley said. “We’re staying up close to the baseline, we’re being aggressive. But it’s just making one or two more balls and just putting our margins inside the court more and just executing better.”
In the singles, Zhadzinskaya won her first set and was looking to win her third at the time, but the match was clinched by UNR. The Wolf Pack was able to tear through the Rams before they had a chance to fight back.
Yet, this wasn’t the only bump.
The Rams suffered many setbacks already this season. Due to injury, finding the win is tougher for this team than it should be. With so few players, the team lacks the depth to overcome minor losses that should otherwise leave them unaffected.
“Honestly, there’s no magic solution to those things.” Erechtchenko said. “We’ll just keep on practicing being aggressive. It’s always better to be the one dictating the point than the one being passive and kind of just hoping for the opponent to lose.”
Heading deeper into conference play, the Rams are hoping to turn the season around. By showing grit on and off the courts, extra effort is needed to make up for what is missing on the team.
In years past, Trans’ Rams have been a strong team. This team needs to step up to the expectations from years past despite the circumstances if they want to turn the season around and show what CSU has to offer in conference play.
“I think they’re doing a great job of not really using that (injury) as an excuse,” Tran said. “They’re focusing on what we do have and stepping up. I think they’ve been really positive and sticking together, and I think we’ll be able to bounce back for Sunday.”
CSU will host New Mexico Sunday, planning to use the tough loss against UNR as a learning experience. With the match against the Lobos, CSU is hoping to create some momentum moving forward into conference play and the rest of the season.
Reach Mason Ford at sports@collegian.com or on X @mason_ford2891.
