Colorado Buffaloes Shine at Milwaukee Tennis Classic

GLENDALE, Wis. – On the final day of the 50th Milwaukee Tennis Classic, Colorado didn’t just tidy up a good weekend. The Buffaloes stamped a statement on it.

With the anniversary tournament winding down and the courts finally a little quieter after two heavy days of play, Colorado’s small traveling group walked away with something substantial: control, composure, and two wins over Wisconsin to close the event.

They brought only four players to the Badger State. They left having dictated the last word.

Doubles set the tone

The morning opened at 9 a.m. with a lighter slate, but there was nothing soft about the way Colorado attacked the doubles.

Returning pair Lera Alexin and Ema Bubalo wasted no time against Wisconsin’s duo of Karolina Jacobson and Gabriela Skrabalova. First game to Colorado. A quick response from Wisconsin for 1–1. Then the match tilted.

Alexin and Bubalo ripped through three straight games, seizing a 4–1 lead and all the initiative. Jacobson, a Colorado native, and Skrabalova briefly halted the surge at 4–2, but the Buffs pair slammed the door, rolling through the final two games for a 6–2 win.

It was brisk, decisive tennis. Exactly what head coach Anthony Pham wanted to see at the end of a long weekend that had already featured six doubles and 15 singles matches for his group.

“I thought our group made some good progress this weekend,” Pham said. “We played a ton of matches, competed well, and are showing strong maturity in how we handle adversity.”

The doubles result backed that up. Confident, clean, and under control.

Ternstroem’s debut grit

With doubles in the bag, the stage belonged to one player.

First-year Buff Louise Ternstroem, making her Colorado debut, was the only CU athlete to step onto the singles court on Sunday. One match. One opponent. Plenty of pressure for a first outing.

She embraced it.

Facing Jacobson again, Ternstroem came out sharp and took the opening set 6–3, using that early doubles momentum and turning it into singles authority. Jacobson, though, refused to fold in front of the home crowd. The Wisconsin player clawed her way into a tight second set and edged it 7–6, dragging the contest into a deciding tiebreak.

This is where weekends like this can turn. Tired legs, long travel, a first match in new colors. It can all pile up.

Ternstroem didn’t blink.

In the deciding breaker, she steadied herself and closed out the victory, officially recorded as 6–3, 6–7, 1–0. A debut that didn’t just show talent, but resilience.

For a program that has been emphasizing toughness and growth, it was exactly the kind of match Pham had pointed to when he talked about “maturity in how we handle adversity.”

Eyes on the Bedford Cup

With Milwaukee in the books, Colorado heads home not to rest on a tidy final day, but to build on it.

“We are excited to get back to practice, to prepare for the Bedford Cup in a couple of weeks,” Pham said.

The Bedford Cup, set for Sept. 25–27 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, now arrives as the next measuring stick. A doubles team that just dominated a Big Ten pair. A freshman who turned her debut into a three-set scrap and came out on top.

The anniversary celebration in Wisconsin is over. For Colorado, the real test of how far this weekend can carry them is only just beginning.