PROVO, Utah — The No. 26 BYU women's tennis team (14-6, 2-2) came out strong but couldn't hold on, losing 6-1 to No. 25 TCU (13-6, 4-0) Friday at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.
"We were motivated and started off well, but we just wore down," Coach Craig Manning said. They were just too strong for us today."
The Cougars displayed their motivation early on, coming together and supporting each other as always to take the doubles point. They had little luck on court one but were able to cruise to a victory on court three. That win tied the doubles matches at 1-1 and set up a thrilling deciding match on court two. Both teams got behind their teammates, yelling and cheering them on as the match got closer and closer to the end. Down 5-4, Anastasia Sourkova and Jennifer Miccoli fought to go up 6-5. But TCU wasn't going down easy, as Anna Sydorska and Andrea Morgado battled back to tie the score 6-6. The two teams went back and forth, until Miccoli and Sourkova were able to put it away 9-7.
BYU kept things close in the early going, but began to wear down as the match got older. Two of the six matches went into the third set, however the Cougars weren't able to pull out either of them. On court two, Olga Boulytcheva had to withdraw during the tiebreaker with Helena Besovic after slightly tweaking her back and deciding it best to rest for Saturday and not risk further injury. Sofia Holden also took her set with Ana Cetnik to three sets, but ended with a heart-breaking loss 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. The Horned Frogs, however, were too strong, winning the other four matches in straight-sets to give TCU the 6-1 win.
The Cougars now look to put the loss behind them, preparing to face No. 40 New Mexico tomorrow at 11 a.m. Between the doubles and singles matches of the contest, BYU will honor former BYU women's tennis coach and ITA Hall of Fame Inductee Ann Valentine for her impact on BYU athletics.
TCU 6 BYU 1
Doubles
1. Besovic/Cetnik (TCU) def. Chang/Holden (BYU) 8-0
2. Sourkova/Miccoli (BYU) def. Sydroska/Morgado (TCU) 9-7
3. Boulytcheva/Jones (BYU) def. Nichols/Leimbach (TCU) 8-2
Singles
1. Nicole Leimbach (TCU) def. Lauren Jones (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
2. Helena Besovic (TCU) def. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 Default
3. Anna Sydorska (TCU) def. Anastasia Sourkova (BYU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
4.Ana Cetnik (TCU) def. Sofia Holden (BYU) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
5.Kewa Nichols (TCU) def. Jennifer Miccoli (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
6.Glorianna Lopez (TCU) def. Dolly Chang (BYU) 6-4, 6-1