Colorado's most formidable tennis duo

         Off thetennis court Winde Janssens and Carla Manzi Tenorio share a giggle and theyknow exactly what the other is thinking. On the court it’s not much different,minus the giggle part, sometimes.

         “We play well together, as a team,”said Janssens Then Manzi Tenoria quickly interjects, “We communicated well.”And finally to finish off the question, Janssens said of their play theprevious weeks, “I felt we kept fighting.”

         These court-mates, both sophomores,are not only having fun on the tennis court, but they are winning and quicklybecoming a force to be reckoned with.

          In the previous two matches, both Colorado wins against New Mexicoand Northern Colorado, this duo wasundefeated. The pair won both number-2 doubles matches rather easily, 8-3 and8-5 respectively. Then they split up and made quick work of their competition,each winning both of their matches. (Janssens 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 against UNM and 6-3,6-2 today; Manzi Tenorio 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 versus UNM and 6-0, 6-2 today)

          Janssens and Manzi Tenorio are afairly odd couple. Janssens is from Peer, Belgium, and Manzi Tenorio calls Cali, Colombiahome, only a roughly short 5,300 miles separates the two. Each found their wayto Boulder, Colorado and unbeknownst to everyone,including the coaches, they clicked right away. 

            “Actually at the beginning offreshman year I guess we were the last two left out so they put us together andwe just did amazing in our first tournament,” recalls Manzi Tenorio. “And thenwe kept on playing together and somehow we started to understand each other andknow what the other one was going to do.”

            Their shypersonalities, fun yet hardworking attitudes and explosive skills make up acrucial piece to Coloradowomen’s tennis program. They continue to grind to get better in the Pac-12Conference that is, again, one of the best in the nation.

            Are theyconfident and excited about the season? Janssens and Manzi Tenorio look addeach other, they probably know exactly what the other one will say. They smile,partially giggle, nod and utter in unison, “Yeah.”