BOULDER—Senior Antonia Balzert was awarded the Most Improved Senior Award by the ITA Mountain Region, the organization announced last week, given to a player who has shown great improvement throughout their careers.
After a tough sophomore season both on and off the court, Balzert surged for much of her junior and senior seasons, occupying the No. 1 spot in both singles and doubles. She earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors as a senior, winning 17 singles and 14 doubles matches, with all dual matches coming at the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles positions (most with Aya El Sayed).
“I want to thank the ITA for this award,” Balzert said. “In general, I think all athletes had a tough time during COVID. It certainly was for me, both on and off the court. But I always gave it my all through that time, and the rest of my career I worked really hard. It’s nice to be recognized for that hard work.”
Her leadership and performances helped lead the Buffaloes to their first postseason appearance in 16 seasons and a team win in the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time ever. She became the 15th player in program history to win 10 matches in a season at No. 1 singles, and first in seven years.
“I’m very happy for Toni to cap her career with this well-deserved award,” CU Coach Anthony Pham said. “She worked tirelessly at her craft and showed tremendous improvement from year to year. I’m proud of everything she accomplished both on the court and in the classroom.”
Balzert graduated from CU with two degrees in Psychology and Business Marketing. She finished her career with above a 3.5 grade point average and was the first player in program history to earn College Sports Communicator’s Academic All-District and she was also named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll, CU’s Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and to the dean’s list multiple times throughout her career.
In her career, Balzert’s 50 singles wins earned her a spot in the CU record book as the 34th player with 50-plus singles wins in program history. Her 14 career wins at No. 1 singles also ranks tied for 12th in program annals. Among her 85 combined singles and doubles wins, 39 of them came in dual match play at No. 1 or No. 2 singles or doubles.
As a senior, she had and impressive 6-1 run in the fall season, with a 4-1 record at the ITA Mountain Regional and a…
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