Buffs Start Conference Play Hosting Stanford and California

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes Tennis team starts Pac-12 conference play this weekend against No.
13 Stanford on Friday at 11 a.m. MST at the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center followed by No. 55 California
on Sunday.

The California match time and location will be determined closer to match time and will either be played

at the CU Tennis Complex or at the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center.

Anthony Pham starts conference play in his second year as the head coach at Colorado against two of the best teams in the country. Stanford currently ranks No. 13 in the country with a record of 6-2 coming off of a 5-2 victory over No. 8 Texas. Pham respects what Stanford has done in the tennis world on both the men’s and women’s side, but is ready to battle against a perennial power.

“We have a ton of respect for Stanford,” Pham said. “They are one of the perennial tennis programs on

both the men’s and women’s side, they’ve won numerous national titles. It’s a great opportunity for us

and we’re excited to go out there and compete and battle against them.”

As much as Pham knows conference play is important, he and the team are much more focused on

playing the right way and improving from match to match.

“Obviously conference play is important,” Pham said. “But for us we approach our matches with our

focus being to keep improving and to try and pay a little better than the last match. That is our approach

match to match. Pac-12 play is obviously important, but we try to take every match and give it the same

importance.”

In the last couple of weeks, freshman Carri Hayes and Anya Nelson have returned to the court following injuries that occurred in the fall and are already starting to make an impact for the Buffs. Hayes clinching the match against BYU and Nelson getting her first win of the spring against South Dakota at No. 2

doubles with senior Antonia Balzert.

Pham has seen growth from the entire team so far throughout the early spring, but especially from

Hayes and Nelson and is looking for them to continue to improve match to match.

“Overall, with the team we’re seeing improvement from match to match,” Pham said. “With the

freshman it’s no different. I think they are starting to understand what division one tennis is about, and

what it takes to be successful. There seems to be improvements, but we want to keep pushing to be

better…