Tennis doubles pair starts season strong

The CSU women’s tennis team enjoyed a successful start to its season over the weekend as the doubles tandem of sophomore Kristen Stople and junior Sarah Seltsam took home first-place in the top flight of the Wyoming Cowgirl Invitational in Laramie, Wyo.

Seltsam and Stople defeated Montana State’s Ali Griffin and Laura Villegas, 8-3, Sunday to finish the tournament 3-0. After a first-round bye, the pair defeated Weber State’s Greyce Farias and Kelli Kindley; and the University of Northern Colorado’s Tiffany Knop and Karen Groll on Saturday to advance to the final.

“This was a successful tournament for us; we accomplished what we wanted to,” said coach Jon Messick in a university statement. “We were competitive in every match we played and gained a lot of good experience against a high level of competition.”

The Rams’ No. 2 doubles pair of junior Greer Satherlie and sophomore Rui Xu placed second in Flight 2 of the doubles tournament on Saturday.

CSU’s singles players didn’t fair as well, though, with CSU’s best showing a sixth-place finish by Satherline in the second flight of the singles bracket.

The Rams return to action Thursday in Provo, Utah, for the BYU Invitational.