Columbia. S.C. (March 8, 2005)--A day after nearly pulling off the upset win over 18th ranked Clemson, the 24th ranked BYU women's team stormed back to beat a good 31st -ranked South Carolina Gamecocks team 4-1.
BYU started out on the right foot as they took the doubles point from the Gamecocks. Cougars Olga Boultycheva and Sofia Holden took the three doubles spot first, easily winning 8-5. South Carolina would battle back when teammates Gutierrez and Koon upset the Cougars 44th ranked double duo of Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang 8-4 at the one doubles. But the fab freshman, Anastasia Sourkova and Jennifer Miccoli, would seal the deal for BYU as they won at the two doubles spot 8-6.
But in the singles, the Cougars would get down and dirty with the Gamecocks. All of the top four singles would be grind-it-out matches as they each went three sets. When the dust settled BYU had picked up three of the matches and the win.
'It was a long match, but it was an awesome effort," said head coach Craig Manning. "The team chemistry really showed today, people where cheering for each other the whole time. It was an all around solid team effort today."
BYU's top singles player, Lauren Jones, went her traditional three sets. After losing the first set 1-6, she broke out the thunder stick and stormed her way to a 6-4 win in the second and a 6-3 win in the third set. But uncharacteristically, Cougar Olga Boulytcheva lost at the second singles spot 4-6,6-2,6-3 for only the second time this year. Her only other loss was to ninth ranked Washington. The Cougars then picked up three set wins from Sourkova at the three singles spot 6-4,3-6,6-4 and at the four spot with Holden's 4-6,6-2,6-3 win. Holden's victory would give the Cougars a 4-1 advantage.
But because of time conflicts with their flight, the Cougars had to cancel the final two matches. BYU split it's Carolina road trip at 1-1, with a tough loss yesterday at 18th ranked Clemson. The Cougars are now 8-2, while the Gamecocks fall to 6-2.
Final Score:
#24 BYU (8-2)...4
South Carolina (6-2)...1
Doubles:
1. Lucas/Wojdylo (SC) d. #56 Chang/Jones (BYU) 8-4
2. Sorkova/Miccoli (BYU) d. Ganzer/Wiggins (SC) 8-6
3. Boulytcheva/Holden (BYU) d. Gutierrez/Koon (SC) 8-5
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
Singles:
1. Lauren Jones (BYU) d. Danielle Wiggins (SC) 1-6,6-4,6-3
2. Christyn Lucas (SC) d. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) 4-6,6-2,6-3
3. Anastasia Sorkova (BYU) d. Laura Ganzer (SC) 6-4,3-6,6-4
4. Sofia Holden (BYU) d. Magda Wojdylo (SC) 4-6,6-2,6-3
5. Miranda Gutierrez (SC) vs. Jennifer Miccoli (BYU)susp.
6. Fallon Koon (SC) vs. Dolly Chang (BYU) susp.
Order of Finish: 1,4,3,2