PROVO -- Opponents in the doubles championship this morning at the BYU Invitational had more in common than matching shoes- they were from the same team. Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang faced teammates Olga Boulytcheva and Sofia Holden in the doubles finals to determine who would leave with the first place prize, a DVD player, and who would go home empty handed.
Boulytcheva and Holden won the first game in the eight-game proset, but Jones and Chang answered winning three games before Boulytcheva and Holden earned a second win. The Jones and Chang duo fought back to win five games in a row and seal the match8-2. But it was not time to celebrate just yet. Jones and Chang took a quick break to regroup before going on to play in the singles championship matches. Jones met Boulytcheva yet again for the bracket A singles championship and Chang faced Boise State's Tatiana Ganzha for the bracket B singles championship.
Boulytcheva and Jones played a hard three-set match with Jones taking off to win the first set 6-4. Boulytcheva came back in the second set taking the last five games and winning 6-3 to force a third set. Jones won the first game of the third set before Boulytcheva had another five-game winning streak. Jones took one more game from Boulytcheva, but couldn't hold her teammate off. Boulytcheva won the last game to beat Jones 6-2 in the third set and claim the match.
Boulytcheva said in order to keep her focus and pull out the win she had to imagine her teammate/opponent as "some random person."
"It's really hard to play your teammate," she said. "Especially in the final."
Chang also fought hard in the bracket B championship match against Boise State, but couldn't pull out the win. She finished 2-6, 3-6, and second place in her bracket.
Fellow Cougar Breanna Williamson also stood out on the day, but
could not pull out a win. She lost to USU in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 4-6.
Cougar coach Craig Manning said he is pleased with the team's level of play and he feels the tournament results accurately reflected their abilities on the court.
"We've got good stuff to build on," he said. "Even if we stayed the same the whole year we'd do good. But we'll keep getting better."
Complete brackets and scores from the BYU Invitational can be found at www.edraws.com/byu.
RESULTS
Bjorkman BSU def Holden BYU (WD)
Nelson USU def Williamson BYU 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Bolytcheva BYU def Jones BYU 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Ganzha BSU def Chang BYU 6-2, 6-3
DOUBLES
Chang/Jones BYU def Boulytcheva/Holden BYU 8-2