Colorado Buffs Dominate at Milwaukee Classic
GLENDALE, Wis. – On a long, demanding Saturday at the 50th Annual Milwaukee Classic, Colorado didn’t just survive the grind. It imposed itself on it.
At the heart of it all were two Buffs who barely put a foot wrong.
Crncan and Ternstroem set the tone
From the first balls struck at 8 a.m., Heidi Crncan and Louise Ternstroem played like a seasoned pairing, not just teammates thrown together in September.
They opened with a statement in doubles, dismantling USF’s Sienna Leeson and Josefine Falster 6-1, a scoreline that flattered the Bulls more than the Buffs. Colorado’s pair controlled the middle of the court, took returns early, and never let the match breathe.
Their momentum carried straight into singles.
Crncan, a second-year from England, produced one of the most efficient days of the tournament. She brushed aside Milwaukee’s Karolina Skowronska 6-1, 6-2, then backed it up with another straight-sets win over LIP’s Deborah Collado Dominguez, 6-2, 6-3. Across four sets of singles, she never lost more than three games. It was ruthless, measured tennis.
Ternstroem, Colorado’s lone newcomer, matched that energy with a poise that belied her inexperience at this level. She dispatched Marquette’s Emmerson White 6-2, 6-3, then dug in when the day demanded more. Against Purdue’s Nehir Dogan, she edged a tight 7-5 opener before racing through the second 6-1, turning a tense contest into a comfortable finish.
Two players. Four singles wins. One doubles rout. They set the standard.
Alexin and Bubalo push a top-15 duo to the brink
The early doubles session belonged to Colorado.
On the adjacent court, Lera Alexin and Ema Bubalo opened with a sharp 6-3 win over Purdue’s Ece Gencer and Dogan, a composed performance that hinted at something more. That “more” nearly became the headline of the day.
Up next: the No. 14-ranked doubles team in the country, North Carolina’s Anna Frey and Alanis Hamilton.
What followed was a scrap. Alexin and Bubalo went toe-to-toe with the Tar Heels, dragging the match into a tiebreak and then into deep water inside it. They had match points. They saved match points. The level rose on both sides, and the margins shrank to a handful of shots.
In the end, UNC escaped 7-6 (10).
The scoreline will show a loss. The performance said something different. It was the kind of near-upset that can change how a team looks at itself in big moments later in the season.
Singles grind: response after setbacks
Once doubles wrapped, the day turned into a test of resilience.
Alexin’s first singles outing came against a familiar face from doubles, USF’s Falster. The Colorado junior pushed the first set to a tiebreak but dropped it 7-6 (3), then fell 6-4 in the second. No time to dwell, though. She bounced back with authority, rolling past Marquette’s Elise Barnstedt 6-2, 6-2. Clean hitting, decisive patterns, no drama.
Bubalo’s path was even more punishing. Drawn against Kansas State’s Sabrina Balderrama, she found herself in a three-set dogfight. The two traded sets, Balderrama taking the first 6-3, Bubalo answering 6-4. The match came down to a deciding tiebreak set, where Balderrama edged it 1-0 to close out a narrow win. It was the kind of loss that stings, but it also underlined Bubalo’s willingness to stay in the fight.
Head coach Anthony Pham saw the collective step forward.
“We made some good adjustments from yesterday,” he said. “We took a step forward today, and we want everybody to finish the tournament on a positive note tomorrow.”
One day left to cash it in
Sunday brings a lighter schedule, but not a lighter challenge.
Alexin and Bubalo will team up for one more doubles match, another chance to build on a day where they went from comfortable winners to near giant-killers. Crncan and Ternstroem, unbeaten in singles on Saturday, return to the court chasing a perfect individual weekend.
Three days in Milwaukee can feel long. Colorado has turned it into something else: an opportunity to sharpen its edge before the season’s real pressure arrives.
