Buffs Drop Match To UTEP

BOULDER – Colorado's women's tennis team attempted to put together yet another comeback, falling just short of that goal dropping their match to the University of Texas at El Paso Miners 4-2 on Sunday afternoon here at the CU South Campus Tennis Complex.

The loss is CU's first since dropping their match at Denver on February 4, and it lowers their record to 7-2. As for the Miners, it's their second win of the weekend, having split two matches on Friday and Saturday in Laramie, Wyoming and the win improves UTEP's record to 4-7 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED: CU had difficulty with UTEP in doubles competition, dropping the doubles point to start the match behind the Miners 1-0.

At the No. 2 spot UTEP's grouping of Duda Santos and Lois Wagenvoort took down the Buff pairing of senior Nuria Ormeño Ruiz and junior Kyra Wojcik 6-2 to give UTEP the first doubles match.

UTEP clinched the doubles point shortly after in the No. 3 match when the Miner pairing of Daphne Visscher and Raven Bennett beat the CU sophomore pairing of Annabelle Andrinopoulos and Brigitte Beck 6-2 to give UTEP the doubles point and a 1-0 lead in the match.

Singles was next and the Buffs were unable to complete the comeback, but they didn't go down without a fight.

UTEP kept the pressure on in singles play, taking the first point at the No. 6 spot when Bennett beat CU's Beck in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

Starting the comeback and getting the Buffs on the board first was Andrinopoulos as she handled UTEP's Santos in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. Andrinopoulos only had problems with Santos in the first set, as the young Buff had a 5-2 lead before letting Santos get back in the match to force a tiebreaker.

But Andrinopoulos was up to the test and she dug herself out of the hole she stepped back into, winning the tiebreaker and taking that momentum into the second set where she faced little resistance on her way to the win.

Keeping the Buffs moving forward and scoring again for CU was freshman Chloe Hule as she took down UTEP's Visscher in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Hule was in command for most of the match and anytime Visscher started to crawl Hule slammed the door shut to lock up the win.

Hule's win tied the score at 2-2, and it set up a three-match showdown at numbers one, two and five to decide the day.

The first domino fell at No. 1 when UTEP's Vivienne Kulicke outlasted CU's Ruiz in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to give UTEP a 3-2 lead.

Ruiz battled hard for three sets, but her great effort wasn't enough as Kulicke was able to hand Ruiz her first loss in almost a month, her last loss being on February 7, at Denver.

UTEP finished off the match at the No. 5 spot when Wagenvoort survived CU's Wojcik in three sets 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Wojcik fought hard throughout the match, and her efforts in the tiebreaker allowed her to take an early lead in the match.

But Wagenvoort came back strong in the final two sets to take the match and give UTEP the 4-2 victory.

QUOTEWORTHY: (CU head coach Nicole Kenneally):
"The loss is disappointing for us. Hats off to UTEP, they came in and played solid from the first point to the last point. We didn't have a great doubles point, and it got us off to a bad start. We kind of gave ourselves an opportunity in singles, but to come out and win four out of six matches against a team that's going to compete for every point is tough. They deserved the win and we've got to learn from it. We've got an opportunity to take some good stuff away from today and get ready for our matches next weekend."

NOTEWORTHY: Hule's win was her first since February 5, and it snaps a two-match skid for her while raising her overall record to 11-7; Andrinopoulos moved back into the No. 3 spot for the first time since February 4, and the win raises her record at that position to 3-1 (11-6 overall); This was CU's first loss since losing 6-1 at Denver on Febuary 4, snapping a three-match winning streak.

NEXT UP: The Buffs return to action next weekend as they travel to Houston, TX to take on the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners (Saturday, February 25, 11:00 a.m. MT) and the Rice Owls (Sunday, February 26, 11:00 a.m. MT) live stat links will be posted on twitter via @CUBuffsTennis.

UTEP 4, Colorado 2
February 19, 2017 at Boulder, Colo. (CU South Campus Tennis Complex)
Singles:
1. Vivienne Kulicke (UTEP) def. Nuria Ormeño Ruiz (CU) 6-3, 3-6 7-5
2. Louise Ronaldson (CU) v. Milou Pietersz (UTEP) DNF
3. Annabelle Andrinopoulos (CU) def. Duda Santos (UTEP) 7-6, 6-3
4. Chloe Hule (CU) def. Daphne Visscher (UTEP) 6-4, 6-4
5. Lois Wagenvoort (UTEP) def. Kyra Wojcik (CU) 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
6. Raven Bennett (UTEP) def. Brigitte Beck (CU) 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish: 6, 3, 4, 1, 5*
Doubles:
1. Ronaldson/Hule (CU) v. No. 48 Kulicke/Pietersz (UTEP) DNF
2. Santos/Wagenvoort (UTEP) def. Ormeño Ruiz/Wojcik (CU) 6-2
3. Visscher/Bennett def. Andrinopoulos/Beck (CU) (UTEP) 6-2

Order of Finish: 2, 3*

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Players Mentioned

Annabelle Andrinopoulos

Brigitte Beck

Chloe Hule

Nuria Ormeño Ruiz

Louise Ronaldson

Kyra Wojcik