Colorado Buffaloes Finish Strong at Milwaukee Tennis Classic

GLENDALE, Wis. – On the final day of the Milwaukee Tennis Classic’s 50th anniversary, Colorado didn’t just finish its weekend. It stamped it.

With the courts at Nicolet High School still slick from three days of heavy use, a lean Colorado squad of four wrapped up the tournament by sweeping its last two matches against Wisconsin, closing a demanding stretch with a sharp, businesslike edge.

Doubles set the tone

The morning started quietly at 9 a.m., but it didn’t stay quiet for long.

Returning Buffaloes duo Lera Alexin and Ema Bubalo walked onto court against Wisconsin pair Karolina Jacobson and Gabriela Skrabalova and immediately seized control. They broke in the opening game, setting a tone that never really shifted.

Wisconsin briefly steadied at 1-1. That was as close as it got.

Alexin and Bubalo rattled off three straight games, stretching the lead to 4-1 with crisp returns and confident net play. When the Badgers trimmed the deficit to 4-2, Colorado answered with another surge, closing out the final two games to lock in a 6-2 win and the doubles point for the day.

It was efficient. It was ruthless. And it gave Colorado all the momentum it needed.

Ternstroem’s debut fight

From there, the spotlight narrowed to one court and one player.

First-year Buff Louise Ternstroem, making her Colorado debut, carried that doubles energy straight into singles against Jacobson. If there were nerves, they didn’t show early. Ternstroem took command of the baseline exchanges and rolled through the opening set, 6-3.

Jacobson, playing in her home state and stung by the doubles defeat, refused to fold. The second set tightened, games trading back and forth until it spilled into a tiebreak. This time, the Badger edged it, 7-6, dragging the contest into a deciding match tiebreak.

After two long days that had already produced six doubles and 15 singles matches for Colorado, this was the last test of the weekend. One more sprint.

Ternstroem held her nerve. She outlasted Jacobson in the breaker, closing out the match to secure a three-set victory and complete a perfect Sunday for the Buffaloes:

• Doubles: Lera Alexin/Ema Bubalo (CU) def. Karolina Jacobson/Gabriela Skrabalova (UW) 6-2
• Singles: Louise Ternstroem (CU) def. Karolina Jacobson (UW) 6-3, 6-7, 1-0

For head coach Anthony Pham, the weekend was about more than the final scoreline. He pointed to the volume of tennis his small group absorbed and the way they handled the grind, noting the “good progress” and “strong maturity” in how they dealt with adversity across three days in the Badger State.

Eyes on the Bedford Cup

There’s no trophy to carry home from this particular Sunday, no conference points at stake, but there is something just as valuable in September: proof of concept.

Colorado’s core showed it can handle a heavy workload, its veterans delivered in doubles, and its newcomer passed a three-set test on debut.

Now the Buffaloes head back to Boulder and into a practice block with something every coach wants at this stage of the season—evidence that the work is taking hold.

Next on the calendar: the Bedford Cup, Sept. 25–27, at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The early question for Colorado is no longer whether this group can compete. It’s how far, and how fast, they can turn weekends like this into a standard.