Tennis anyone?
It might be a bit early for those who love to volley, especially those who play predominantly outdoors.
But for the Wyoming Cowgirls, it’s tennis season.
The Cowgirls, of course, have been playing for months. And they have been playing very well.
In fact, the Cowgirls have played themselves right to the top of the Mountain West Conference standings. And with just two conference matches remaining, and with a 7-1 league record, the Cowgirls have a one-match lead on UNLV, San Diego State and Air Force.
The Cowgirl Tennis Team will play their final two league matches in Ft. Collins, Colorado. They face Air Force today and New Mexico tomorrow.
And since Wyoming controls its own destiny, two victories would give Cowgirls tennis its first conference championship. One victory would assure the Cowgirls at least a tie for the title.
This weekend’s matches have already been described as having a chance at history on the line.
And that is so true. A conference title for Wyoming tennis, a regular season league championship for the Cowgirls, would indeed be historic. As in, never been done before.
Here they are on the doorstep of making history.
This is Wyoming’s most international team in the Brown and Gold. Very much like our great universities, Cowgirls Tennis and college teams all over the nation have incorporated and included people from other countries.
Tennis is truly a global sport, and the Cowgirls hail from all over the globe.
Wyoming has two graduates on the roster. Ana Fernandez is from Madrid, Spain. Maria Oreshkina hails from Moscow, Russia.
There are four juniors. Noesjka Brink is from Berghem, The Netherlands. Nikol Dobrilova comes from Valencia, Spain. Lucia Malinak hails from Mainburg, Germany. And Sophie Zehender is from Stuttgart, Germany.
The two UW freshmen are from Eastern Europe. Violetta Borodina is from Almetyevsk, Russia, and Adel Ismagulova from Lisakovsk, Kazakhstan.
Serina Abriola is the lone American on the roster. She hails from Carefree, Arizona.
They come from all over, they are all Cowgirls, and they are the ones with that chance at history.
Wyoming has had outstanding play from the entire roster this season. That’s fairly obvious, having won seven of eight league matches. And they are coming into these two closing matches off two big wins last week over Utah State and Boise State.
The Cowgirls have had great individual performances when needed, too.
Borodina has been outstanding all season. She leads the Cowgirls with 13 dual wins. She registered two wins last weekend and was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season.
That leads us back to these two very big matches over the next two days for the Cowgirls.
The first one is very intriguing.
It really doesn’t matter what sport we’re talking about. Wyoming vs. Air Force is very special in so many ways. And it could be anything from tennis to football to tiddlywinks. If it’s Wyoming vs. Air Force, it’s big.
It may not have the blood feud feel of Wyoming-CSU, but it’s close. It’s a Front Range rivalry with plenty of history.
And this Wyoming-Air Force match is important for both teams. Air Force is one match behind the Cowgirls in the standings with two matches to play.
The final match with New Mexico has the Cowgirls up against a team that is just 3-5 in conference play and in a four-way tie for sixth place.
So there it is. A chance to win an outright Mountain West Conference Championship.
And I like their chances.
Oh, and, how ’bout them Cowgirls?
