SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In the first of two road matches in California this weekend, BYU women’s tennis fell 4-1 to Santa Clara on Friday at the Degheri Tennis Center.

In doubles, SCU (8-11, 3-5 WCC) earned the victory on court No. 1 after Madison Clarke and Danielle Silva defeated BYU seniors Natella Nabieva and Savannah Ware-Avina by the score of 6-4. Freshman Kate Cusick and sophomore Taylah Beckman defeated the Broncos’ Nabila Farah and Caitlyn Frankel 7-5 on court No. 2 but SCU took the third doubles matchup after Zeina El Tawil and Giannina Ong defeated BYU’s Demi Perkinson and Samantha Smith 7-6.

In singles, the Broncos extended the lead to 3-0 after Farah defeated Cusick 6-1, 6-2 at third singles and Beckman fell 6-3, 6-4 to SCU’s Frankel. Nabieva scored the Cougars’ first point of the match with a sound 6-4, 6-3 win over Silva at the No. 2 singles slot, but SCU held on to win 4-1 after Clarke bested BYU’s Ware-Avina in three sets with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory.

BYU will face San Francisco tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. PDT at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco in the final match of the 2017 regular season.  

Santa Clara 4, Brigham Young 1

Singles competition

1. Madison Clarke (SCU) def. Savannah Ware-Avina (BYU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

2. Natella Nabieva (BYU) def. Daniella Silva (SCU) 6-4, 6-3

3. Nabila Farah (SCU) def. Kate Cusick (BYU) 6-1, 6-2

4. Zeina El Tawil (SCU) vs. Samantha Smith (BYU) 3-6, 6-1, 4-4, unfinished

5. Caitlyn Frankel (SCU) def. Taylah Beckman (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

6. Giannina Ong (SCU) vs. Demi Perkinson (BYU) 6-1, 3-6, 3-4, unfinished

Doubles competition

1. Madison Clarke/Daniella Silva (SCU) def. Natella Nabieva/Savannah Ware-Avina (BYU) 6-4

2. Kate Cusick/Taylah Beckman (BYU) def. Nabila Farah/Caitlyn Frankel (SCU) 7-5

3. Zeina El Tawil/Giannina Ong (SCU) def. Demi Perkinson/Samantha Smith (BYU) 7-6

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,5,2,1)

PROVO, Utah – In the final two matches of the 2017 regular season, BYU women's tennis will travel to face Santa Clara and San Francisco this weekend in California.

BYU (7-11, 2-4 West Coast Conference) will face Santa Clara (7-11, 2-5 WCC) on Friday, April 21, at 11 a.m. PDT before traveling to San Francisco to face the Dons (5-14, 2-5 WCC) on Saturday, April 22, at 11:30 a.m. PDT.

The Cougars occupy seventh place in the WCC standings and need to win both matches in order to remain in competition for the WCC Tournament. BYU looks to rebound after dropping back-to-back matches at home against Pepperdine and LMU. The Cougars are led by senior Savannah Ware-Avina, who leads all active BYU players with 81 career singles victories.

Santa Clara maintains a 5-7 home record and will attempt to end a two-match losing streak after falling 4-3 to San Francisco last weekend. The Broncos sit ninth in the WCC standings and host San Diego on Saturday following Friday's match against BYU. SCU has WCC wins this season against LMU and Pacific.

In addition to defeating the Broncos, San Francisco also earned a 4-3 victory over Pacific earlier in WCC play and holds the eighth slot in the conference standings. The Dons have won three of the past six matches and are 4-6 at home this season.

Live stats will be available on the BYU schedule page.