PROVO -- Another conference foe tasted defeat at the hands of the No. 53 BYU women’s tennis team. The Cougars won the second of three weekend matches, a 7-0 sweep of Wyoming. With the win, the team improves to 9-6 on the season.
“The biggest thing we focused on Friday was focus,” BYU assistant coach Lauren Jones said. “We concentrated on playing our game.”
The Cougars swept the doubles matches for the second time in as many matches. Juniors Chie Hayasaka and Jocelyn Jensen started things out for BYU, dominating their opponents 8-0 on court three. Megan Price and Elle Carney clinched the point after an 8-4 win at the No. 1 position. McCall Jones and Liza Ezhova wrapped pairs play up with an 8-6 win on court two.
Carney notched the first singles point for BYU with a 6-0, 6-4 win on court four. Victories by Jones and Hayasaka gave the Cougars the necessary four points to clinch the match.
Price lost her first set before dominating 6-2 in the second and pulling out a win in the tiebreak, the freshman’s seventh consecutive victory. Ezhova and Jensen earned the last two wins for the team, keeping the Cougars undefeated in conference play.
“All of the players are doing the things they need to and doing them well,” Jones said.
The team will finish the weekend against Air Force Saturday. The match begins at 10 a.m. at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, east of South Field. Admission is free. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.
Match ResultsNo. 53 BYU- 7
Wyoming- 0
Doubles
1. Carney/Price (BYU) def. Summerfield/Van Hollen (WYO) 8-4
2. Ezhova/Jones (BYU) def. Berger/Nelson (WYO) 8-6
3. Hayasaka/Jensen (BYU) def. Pass/Chaix (WYO) 8-0
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. #91M. Jones (BYU) def. S. Summerfield (WYO) 6-1, 6-3
2. C. Hayasaka (BYU) def. R. Berger (WYO) 6-3, 6-3
3. M. Price (BYU) def. C. Van Hollen (WYO) 5-7, 6-2, 10-7
4. E. Carney (BYU) def. C. Chaix (WYO) 6-0, 6-4
5. L. Ezhova (BYU) def. J. Nelson (WYO) 6-2, 6-0
6. J. Jensen (BYU) def. C. Pass (WYO) 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 4, 1, 2, 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.