BERKELEY -- Against the toughest competition they've seen so far the women's tennis team held its own as they competed in day one of the Cal Invitational on Friday.
"We played a lot and learned a lot today," said head coach Craig Manning. "We're playing strongly against the best players in the country."
There was a little of everything in today's matches for the Cougars. Sofia Holden played the longest match of the day for BYU in an awesome 3 1/2 hour battle, which she lost to Jenny Zika from Duke. Anastasia Sourkova drew the 12th ranked player in the nation, Suzi Fodor from the University of California, in the first round. She played well, eventually losing to her tough opponent, but came back strong and won the second match she played.
Arguably the best match of the day came from Lauren Jones. She faced Maja Kovacek from New Mexico in a thrilling three-set contest. Jones went the distance with Kovacek, the No.30 ranked player in the nation, but couldn't hold on in the end, eventually losing 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. However, the match was exciting for all those privileged to watch.
"It was some of the best college tennis I've ever seen," said Manning. "They were smacking winners everywhere."
But that wasn't all for Jones. She also teamed up with doubles partner Dolly Chang and to beat the team of Suzi Fodor and Suzi Babos from Cal.
Senior Olga Boulytcheva showed why she has been a key part of the Cougar team for so long. She came out strong and won both her matches on the day. Those wins set her up for a match against the No. 2 player in the country on Saturday.
Playing against teams like Duke, Cal, and Arizona, who are all top team in the nation, showed the Cougars where they still have room to improve. Hanni Deters and Brianna Williamsen saw some early struggles but kept fighting all the way through. Freshman Rana El Derwy lost both her matches, but Manning said she is learning and getting better every time she steps on the court. Manning said he's happy with the way everyone is playing.