LARAMIE – The celebration, which lasted for about five hours, began with flowers and cheers and ended with brats and tears.
 
Wyoming honored its two beloved seniors, Serina Abriola and Violetta Borodina, before the final home match of the season Sunday in the UW Tennis Complex.
 
During the marathon Mountain West dual match, Abriola and Ruby Young clinched the doubles point for the Cowgirls. Borodina, who has played with a broken finger over the last seven weeks, battled past her opponent 6-2, 6-3 for a singles win that gave UW a 3-0 lead.
 
But the plot twisted cruelly as the lead slowly evaporated.
 
Abriola fell in the decisive, heartbreaking three-set match and watched the Grand Canyon players douse their triumphant teammate with water after the visitors rallied for the 4-3 win.
 
The Cowgirls (11-9, 4-6) joined their loyal fan base for a post-match barbecue before turning the page to preparations for the regular-season finale at Colorado State.
 
"It was very emotional," Abriola reflected 24 hours after her draining senior day. "It was really special and I'm still emotional about it."
 
Borodina said she was "shaking" while trying to serve out her match at 7,220 feet. Laramie has become a second home for the all-MW standout from Almetyevsk, Russia.
 
"At first, it was very scary," Borodina said of arriving in Laramie as a freshman in 2022 to compete for UW. "Coach, the team, everyone in the community was so supportive and it was amazing. I would do it all over again if I had a chance. …
 
"I don't think anyone in the conference or all over America has as many fans."
 
Abriola and Borodina were on the 2023 Cowgirl team that won the program's first MW regular season championship. UW head coach Dean Clower has leaned on the dynamic duo to get a young roster in position to make noise at the conference championships April 22-25 in Las Vegas.
 
"They're the pillars of the program for the last four years. They're everything," Clower said. "They're the culture setters, they're the workers, they're the ones I rely on. Sometimes I need information from them, sometimes I need them to make sure the team is on the right track and that's what they do. They are amazing. I love both of them."
 
Before looking ahead to the wide-open MW Tournament, the Cowgirls have a Border War to take care of. The UW-CSU showdown has been moved up to 1 p.m. Thursday in Fort Collins due to forecasted rain on Friday.
 
"It's going to be exciting and it's also our last match with them in the conference," Abriola said. "Let's try to take down the Rams."
 
Clower has a 12-3 record against CSU. Last season the Cowgirls beat the Rams 4-1 in Laramie and 4-3 in the opening round of the MW Tournament.
 
"I have a lot more wins over them than they do over me," Clower noted. "I want to be able to say, look, I've beaten you 90% of the time or 80% of the time. It's an ego thing. I just don't like them and it's a rivalry, so I want to go down there and beat them in their last home match."
 
Celebrating a road win for the seniors would give the Cowgirls some momentum before trying to make a final postseason run with Abriola and Borodina.
 
"I think we're all connected and it's a special team that we have this year," Abriola said. "We all get along really well, we're all competing for each other, and we all put in the hard work every day."
 
Added Borodina: "We're going to come out full of energy at the tournament and we'll give all we have."
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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