Pike/Schneider Remain Undefeated as Cougars Lose to Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND -- In the first of a two-day road trip, the BYU women's tennis team fell to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a 6-1 decision. The loss puts the Cougars to 7-3 on the season.

In an effort to gain the one-point lead over Notre Dame by winning the doubles point, the undefeated Australian duo of Rebecca Pike and Nicole Schneider fought off Notre Dame's Sarah Jane Connelly and Kristina Stastny in a 9-7 decision. However, BYU lost at the one and two doubles spots.

In singles play, Pike had the only win for the Cougars defeating Sarah Jane Connelly of Notre Dame in two sets as she posted a 6-4, 6-0 win to score the only match point for BYU.

Freshman Sofia Holden, last weeks Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week, nearly pulled off another win at the No. 2 spot. Holden pushed Christian Thompson to the limit, losing in a 10-6 tiebreaker.

The women's tennis team travels back to Madison, Wis., where they recently placed fifth in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship, to face the University of Wisconsin Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

BYU 1, Notre Dame 6
Doubles: 
Thompson/Thompson (ND) def. Macfarlane/Zahnova (BYU) 	  	8-5
Connelly/Salas (ND) def. Holden/Jones (BYU) 				         8-4
Pike/Schneider (BYU) def. Connelly/Stastny (ND) 			     	9-7
Notre Dame wins doubles point
Singles:
Alicia Salas (ND) def. Barbora Zahnova (BYU) 		6-3, 6-3
Charistian Thompson (ND) def. Sofia Holden (BYU)      	6-3, 3-6, 1-0(10-6)Catrina Thompson (ND) def. Lauren Jones (BYU) 	6-3, 6-4
Lauren Connelly (ND) def. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU)      	6-1, 6-0
Rebecca Pike (BYU) def. Sarah Jane Connelly (ND) 	6-4, 6-0
Kristina Stastny (ND) def. Hadley Macfarlane (BYU)    	6-2, 6-0
Team Records: BYU 7-3, ND 6-1

PROVO -- After going 2-0 last weekend in Provo, the No. 20 BYU women's tennis team heads to historic South Bend, Ind., to take on 26th-ranked Notre Dame on Friday followed by a dual against the University of Wisconsin, Madison (No. 66).

The University of Notre Dame women's tennis team comes off a 5-2 win over 69-ranked Virginia Tech Sunday. The Fighting Irish team features No. 14-ranked Alicia Salas and No. 88 Christian Thompson. In their last meeting, the Cougars fell to Notre Dame in a 4-3 decision.

On Saturday, the Cougars look for their second consecutive win over the Badgers of Wisconsin. In their last meeting, BYU defeated Wisconsin 4-3, avenging its loss from the previous year.

This week the Cougars will work on conditioning and game execution. Head coach Craig Manning feels confident that if the players stay focused and stay relaxed, they will walk away with two more wins.

"We're really looking forward to playing some good quality teams on their own courts," Manning said. "I just want the girls to stay relaxed and have fun this week. These will be tough road matches, so we'll have to play our best. We can't play our best if we're not relaxed."