Women’s Tennis Drops Conference Finale at No. 66 Colorado State

Box Score

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Air Force women's tennis team, after pushing No. 66 Colorado State to the brink, fell 4-3 to the Rams at the CSU Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon.

The Falcons (10-11, 6-4 MW) closed regular-season competition with an unblemished 10-0 record in doubles play against the Mountain West, and an 18-3 mark in a best-of-three format. Air Force opened an early lead over CSU (16-7, 5-5 MW) with doubles wins for staple duos Isabella Flodin/Abby Cotuna and Sydney Fitch/Alexis Odom. Flodin/Cotuna closed first on court two, defeating Ky Ecton/Zara Lennon, 6-2, snapping a three-match streak for their CSU opposition, winning their seventh-straight and closing the regular season with a 14-3 record; Fitch/Odom clinched the perfect conference record for Air Force on line one, winning their set over Radka Buzkova/Emily Dush, 7-5, winning their third-consecutive on the way to a 13-3 record.

In singles, the Falcons quickly extended their lead to 3-0, threatening a shutout after straight-set wins for freshman Arianna Van Houweling (court six) and Fitch (court one). Van Houweling defated Ecton, 6-3, 6-2, closing Mountain West play owning wins in seven of her last eight matches to finish with at 14-4 on the spring; Fitch dispatched of Buzkova, 6-1, 6-2, earning her seventh dual win of 2023.

At 3-3, the match fell to a third-set tiebreaker in Cotuna's court-five contest against Viktor Zhadzinskaya, after saving four match points to force the tie; Zhadzinskaya clinched the match, scraping past Cotuna with a 7-5 win.

From Coach Gidley:
"What an incredible team effort today. It could not have been any closer. With three matches left on the court and all in the third set, we only needed one match. Every match our team saved multiple match points to make them earn the win. Abby was down 5-1 in the third set and saved 4 match points to bring the deciding match to the tiebreaker in the third - Then the tiebreaker went 7-5, so it does not get any closer than that.

"This team fights for every point and every match. Kudos to this them for winning every doubles point in conference play - That is an accomplishment in itself."

Up Next:
With the four seed and a first-round bye locked up in the upcoming Mountain West Tournament, Air Force women's tennis will open postseason play on Thursday, Apr. 27 in Las Vegas, with its opponent to be determined.

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