PROVO -- Mountain West Conference play began with a big win by the No. 53 BYU women’s tennis team. The Cougars blew past Colorado State 7-0 Thursday in the first of three home conference matches this weekend.
“The girls performed well, stayed focused and did what we’ve been working on in practice,” BYU assistant coach Lauren Jones said.
BYU came out looking like the stronger team, easily capturing the doubles point after sweeping all three matches. Kristina Doerr and McCall Jones handily defeated their opponents 8-0 on court one. The Cougars recorded an 8-2 win in both remaining matches.
The momentum continued in singles play with stellar performances at each position. Jones and Doerr recorded wins on courts one and two respectively. Freshman Megan Price clinched the match for the Cougars with her 6-3, 6-4 victory over Greer Satherlie.
The team finished the match strong with wins in the last three matches. Chie Hayasaka lost the first set but came back to claim the second set and the tiebreaker. Elle Carney and Liza Ezhova both notched wins to give BYU all seven points and complete the sweep.
“We want to keep our focus up and continue to improve day-by-day,” Jones said. “We’re worried about playing well, not winning or losing.”
The Cougars will continue conference play Friday and Saturday against Wyoming and Air Force. Both matches will begin at 10 a.m. at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.
Match ResultsNo. 53 BYU-7
Colorado State-0
Doubles
1. Doerr/Jones (BYU) def. Neal/Strasburger (CSU) 8-0
2. Carney/Price (BYU) def. Arneson/Stople (CSU) 8-2
3. Ezhova/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Satherlie/Xu (CSU) 8-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. #91M. Jones (BYU) def. L. Neal (CSU) 6-2, 6-1
2. K. Doerr (BYU) def. L. Strasburger (CSU) 6-4, 6-2
3. C. Hayasaka (BYU) def. T. Arneson (CSU) 4-6, 6-3, 10-6
4. M. Price (BYU) def. G. Satherlie (CSU) 6-3, 6-4
5. E. Carney (BYU) def. K. Stople (CSU) 6-2, 6-1
6. L. Ezhova (BYU) def. R. Xu (CSU) 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6
PROVO -- Three Mountain West Conference opponents will head to Provo this week to take on the No. 53 BYU women’s tennis team. The 7-6 Cougars will play Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force.
“We’re going to keep doing the things we’ve been doing,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “Nothing is different because we’re in conference play.”
Thursday will bring Colorado State, which currently owns a 4-6 record. The Rams are coming off a 6-1 win over Eastern Washington. Several BYU players faced opponents from CSU at the BYU Invitational in the fall with a win recorded by each side.
BYU will have a quick turnaround, facing Wyoming Friday. The Cowgirls are 5-8 and came away with a 6-0 loss in their last outing against Arizona. They will face the Aggies of Utah State Wednesday before coming to BYU.
The weekend will conclude with Saturday’s match against Air Force. The Falcons will look to improve in conference play after a 5-2 loss to Wyoming last week. Chie Hayasaka, Romina Nedakovic and McCall Jones each recorded wins over AFA players in the fall at the BYU Invitational.
Last season, the Cougars faced the same three opponents in one weekend, coming away with three wins. But the team is concentrating on performance rather than wins or losses.
“Each player has performance goals, but we don’t have any team outcome goals,” Manning said. “We’ve been focusing on specific details for each individual and we’ll see what that does for us.”
The matches begin at 10 a.m. each day and will be held at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, east of South Field. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.