Before the spring season started, several on the Colorado tennis team were confident that this squad would be the best they’d been a part of since arriving in Boulder.

With wins over two top-15 teams, a fourth-place regular season finish in the Big 12 Conference and the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2003, the Buffs have locked up that distinction easily.

Now the potential distinctions grow grander.

“These guys have the opportunity to keep separating themselves as the best that I’ve had, as well as any team at Colorado,” eighth-year head coach Nicole Kenneally said as the team prepared to leave for South Bend, Ind., on Thursday.

The 37th-ranked Buffs face No. 23 Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Notre Dame at 10 a.m. Saturday.

A victory would make this year’s Buffs one of just two teams in program history to win in NCAA postseason play and the first to do so since the tournament went to its current 64-team format in 1999.

Coach Tom Russ guided the Buffs to NCAA regional berths in 1996, ¥’97, and ¥’98 before his Buffs lost in the first round in 1999. CU did beat Utah in the first round of the Central regional in 1998. But the current format is considered more competitively balanced than it was then.

“It makes it really exciting and makes you want to focus and go out and get that match against Michigan and hopefully move on Sunday as well,” CU No. 1 singles player Monica Milewski said. “I think it’s definitely motivating in that, as a team, we’re capable of making history.”

A win over Michigan (16-7) would pit the Buffs (16-7) against the No. 6 Notre Dame/Illinois-Chicago winner in Sunday’s second round with a trip to the Sweet 16 in Athens, Ga., on the line. Live scoring for all of the weekend’s matches will be available on Notre Dame’s Web site, und.cstv.com.

The Buffs lost to Michigan in 2003 in CU’s only other trip to the tournament under Kenneally’s watch. But the coach feels her team matches up better with the Big Ten tournament runners-up this time around.

Michigan is led at the top of its lineup by the 1-2 punch of No. 86 Jenny Keuhn and No. 91 Chisako Sugiyama. CU meanwhile counters with its first trio of 20-match winners since 1999 — No. 38 Milewski, Franziska Jendrian at No. 4 singles and Gleisy Torres Torres at No. 5.

With two weeks since their earlier-than-expected exit from the Big 12 quarterfinals, the Buffs have had plenty of time to heal their many nagging injuries and get back into the form that saw them close the regular season with six straight wins.

CU will have its full “starting lineup” playing on Saturday. Of course, the Buffs haven’t held a practice with the full team present this week because of finals. But the Buffs said they’re ready to go now that tennis is the only thing on their minds.

“It wasn’t hard to focus,” No. 5 singles player Gleisy Torres Torres said. “It was just a lot of work.”

Kenneally said that, no matter what happens, this weekend will be a good learning experience for her team. No members were on the 2003 squad that went to the tournament but, with just one senior in the lineup, nearly all will be back to make another tournament run next season.

Despite the motivation factor, Milewski, a sophomore, said she and her teammates will have to be careful to not get caught up in the possibility of going down as the best team in school history.

“You don’t want to think about that during the match,” said Milewski, who is also qualified for the NCAA individual tournament later this month. “As soon as you get out there, you stop thinking about that start focusing on your match.”