PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's tennis team opened its 2024-25 dual meet schedule here Friday morning with a 6-1 setback to Lubbock Christian at the Pueblo City Park Tennis Courts.
 
Friday's morning match was the first of three this weekend at home for the ThunderWolves as they hosted Nebraska-Kearney later in the day on Friday and will host Fort Hays State on Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
 
The Pack played Friday's match without senior Valentina Brienza (Rionero in Vulture, Italy/University of District of Columbia), who was dealing with a upper leg injury suffered at last weekend's Colorado College Invitational Brienza is normally the Pack's No. 2 singles plays and also plays No. 2 doubles.
 
In Friday's opener, the teams began by playing doubles and the Lady Chaps would win all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
With her injury, Pack head coach Chris Roman had to adjust his line-up in both singles and doubles. In doubles, the No. 2 team on Friday was senior Marta Garcia (Alcala de Hernares, Spain/Cardinal Stritch) and sophomore Yelena Travica (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Maples Collegiate), while all the singles players in the line-up moved up a spot except for sophomore Mariangel Nunez (Weston, Fla./Unidad Educativa Padre Claret), who played in the No. 1 spot in the line-up.
 
The Lady Chaps won the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches by identical 6-0 scores, while the Pack's No. 3 doubles team of fifth-year senior Sonrisa Bustamante (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo Central) and senior Malaya Pendon (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East) paired up and fell 6-2 to LCU's duo of Lauren Shinneman and Allison Lent.
 
Once the doubles were concluded, the teams turned their focus to singles. In singles action, the Pack won a total of 25 games, including Bustamante winning 12 of those games thanks to her 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 6 spot over LCU's Maizy Adams. The win by Bustamante was her third career singles win as she led the team in singles win in 2022-23 with two.
 
At No. 5 singles, Travica gave LCU's AnaMarie Zoric a hard-fought first set at No. 5 singles and Zoric pulled out a 7-5 win, but she would earn a 6-0 win in the second set.
 
LCU won its second point of the match at No. 1 singles as Nunez fell 6-0, 6-1 to LCU's No. 1 player Andrea De Bernardo. The Lady Chaps took a 3-0 lead in the match after Mariia Koroleva defeated junior Margot Aebischer (Etupes, France/Eastern Arizona College), 6-1, 6-1.
 
The Lady Chaps would seal the match win at No. 4 singles as Maya Adler posted a straight set 6-0, 6-0 win over Pendon.
 
Garcia would win five games for the Pack at No. 3 singles over Oshini Herath as she fell 6-2, 6-3.
 
Lubbock Christian 6, CSU Pueblo 1
Singles Competition
No. 1 – Andrea De Bernardo (LCU) def. Mariangel Nunez (CSUP), 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 – Mariia Koroleva (LCU) def. Margot Aebischer (CSUP), 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 – Oshini Herath (LCU) def. Marta Garcia (CSUP), 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 – Maya Adler (LCU) def. Malaya Pendon (CSUP), 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 – AnaMarie Zoric (LCU) def. Yelena Travica (CSUP), 7-5, 6-0
No. 6 – Sonrisa Bustamante (CSUP) def. Maizy Adams (LCU), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 5
 
Doubles Competition
No. 1 – De Bernardo/Anastasiia Opolska (LCU) def. Nunez/Aebischer (CSUP), 6-0
No. 2 – Koroleva/Zoric (LCU) def. Garcia/Travica (CSUP), 6-0
No. 3 –Lauren Shinneman/Allison Lent (LCU) def. Pendon/Bustamante (CSUP), 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1