22, April 2019- The Cowgirls faced their border war rival, CSU, on Saturday after coming off two conference wins.The girls have dominated their rivals in the past, winning the last six matches against them decisively. However, on Saturday, they seemed to not bring their A game as they dropped the conference match 4-2.
The Cowgirls struggled from the start with their doubles. The freshman duo, Mihaela Kaftanova and Ida Krause, were the first ones to drop their doubles match 3-6. Individually, they struggled in their singles as well, failing to fight their way back to win their third sets.
The seniors, van Der Ploeg and Koonik, came back to win their last regular conference match 6-4 against their CSU counterparts. As a duo, they finished their last regular mountain conference play with a 4-1 record. Their only loss came from the Air Force match at the end of March. The two also earned their third straight All-Conference doubles team after Saturday, finishing with a 16-1 record as a duo.
Although the seniors earned a point with their win, Maria Oreshkina and Ana Royo dropped their No.3 doubles 4-6. This would give the edge that the Rams needed to win the doubles point. With a 1-0 deficit, the Cowgirls seeked to get their first point of the match with their singles.
Going into Saturday’s singles, expectations were high for van Der Ploeg coming into the border war. Not only was this her last regular MW conference match, but the senior had yet to win another singles match since the end of March.
Van Der Ploeg had fought through some pretty tough matches this MW conference season.The senior had only won her first singles match of the conference against UNM. She dropped her match against Air Force, and did not get to finish her next two matches.
So, there was a lot to celebrate with her victory against her CSU opponent. It was her only two set win( 6-4, 6-1) out of the five MW conference singles matches. Van Der Ploeg’s early win would give the Cowgirls the point they needed to tie up the match.
However, the Rams answered right back with their own two set win by Alyssa Grijalva over Mihaela Kaftanova. Although the first set was a tight race, Grijalva didn’t give Kaftanova a chance to fight back with a 6-2 set win.
Now losing 1-2, Koonik, in the No.2 singles spot, focused on closing gap like van Der Ploeg had done earlier. After battling her opponent, Stella Cliffe, Koonik won her match in two close sets. This was also her last singles MW conference match, finishing her season with a 3-2 record in the conference.
Although the seniors had a stellar performance in the final home match of the season, the CSU Rams came back defeat the Cowgirls at home with two more wins from the No. 3 and No. 5 singles.
The Cowgirls hope to shake off their loss as they enter the Mountain West championship on Wednesday, April 24th against the UNM Lobos in the first round.
Colorado State 4, Wyoming Cowgirls
Singles competition
1.Tessa van Der Ploeg(WY) def. LUETSCHWAGER, Emily (CS) 6-4, 6-1
2.Elisa Koonik(WY) def. CLIFFE, Stella (CS) 6-4, 6-4
3. GHANEM, Nancy (CS) def.Maria Oreshkina(WY) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
4.Ana Royo(WY) vs. PALERMO, Priscilla (CS) 2-6, 6-2, 4-5, unfinished
5. KOLBOW, Emily (CS) def.Ana Fernandez(WY) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
6. GRIJALVA, Alyssa (CS) def.Mihaela Kaftanova(WY) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1.Elisa Koonik/Tessa van Der Ploeg(WY) def. CLIFFE, Stella/KOLBOW, Emily (CS) 6-4
2. GHANEM, Nancy/REEVES, Riley (CS) def.Mihaela Kaftanova/Ida Krause(WY) 6-3
3. LUETSCHWAGER, Emily/PALERMO, Priscilla (CS) def.Maria Oreshkina/Ana Royo(WY) 6-4
Match Notes:
Colorado State 10-9, 2-4 MW
Wyoming Cowgirls 13-7, 3-2 MW
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,6,2,5,3)
Stats borrowed from Wyoming Athletics website.
