University of Colorado Athletics

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes tennis team wrapped the season with end of year awards and one last celebration this Saturday.

The Buffs presented athletes with six awards, highlighting success through the team both on and off the court.

The first award, Buff Clincher, went to both Pia Rebec and Lera Alexin. The award represents the athlete who scored the fourth match point to take the team victory, which Rebec and Alexin both tied at a high of three matches.

Also on the court, Colorado found success and resilience through Aya El Sayed, who is this year's Tough Buff. Returning to the team in January, El Sayed found four ranked singles victories at the top spot. Two of the four came in third set finishes, and the other two in tiebreaker triumphs.

"I'm grateful that I decided to come back and be able to do it with the girls one last time, it was an unbelievable dream. I'm proud of every single one of us, we're really like a family here." El Sayed finished her Colorado career with 56 singles and 44 doubles victories.

Strength on the court correlates to the work put in off the court, and Lera Alexin exemplified this goal with the Weight Room Warrior Award. The junior dedicated significant time to putting the work in for strength conditioning.

The senior also won a second award this year, the Dedication and Progress Award. In her four years as a Buff, Nelson continuously proved to be a steadfast athlete and teammate.

"Coming into college as an 18-year-old, it's tough, not knowing anybody. But this program has shaped me in so many ways as a player, and as a person both and off the court. I would do it all over again and I would spend every day with these girls for the rest of my life if I could, it's been awesome." Nelson finished her Colorado career with 24 singles and 57 doubles victories.

Accompanying Nelson is Rixt van der Werff, a senior who finishes her collegiate career with the Highest Team GPA. Van der Werff was evidence of hard work on the court and stepped off into a 3.759 GPA in the classroom.

"Last year was so tough for me. I never had an injury before moving to America, and I was completely blown away by how hard that was. But they kept trusting me, and this year I'm so happy that I played every match that I wanted. My goal for this year was not even to win matches, but to be out there and be healthy enough to play every match that I wanted. I was so happy that I kept myself healthy and be my best self for this team." van der Werff finished her Colorado career with 19 singles and 26 doubles victories.

Last but certainly not least, the team couldn't find success without a true team life force, which was fulfilled through the encouragement of Willow Gretsch, who received the Team Spirit Award. When Gretsch is not playing, she is right next to the courts, cheering on her teammates no matter the outcome.

As a team, the Buffs finished with ten dual victories, two of which coming from conference play. The team also recorded 51 singles and 27 doubles dual victories.

Offseason updates and upcoming events can be found @cubuffstennis.

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