Well, we are half way through our season and currently 8-3 with a national ranking of 23. The great start to the season includes wins over No. 12 Southern California and No. 16 William and Mary. Of the eight wins seven have been over ranked opponents. The three losses the cougars have had are to Nos. 5 Washington, 9 Berkeley, and 20 Notre Dame.
The coaching staff has been delighted with the team's focus so far this year. Heading into the second half of the regular season and with renewed energy after a mini break we are looking forward to our match with the University of Utah this weekend.
The three new comers to the team have been great additions. Barbara Zahnova, who transferred from Virginia Commonwealth as a senior is an absolute joy on and off the court. Her example is tremendous. We all wish Barbara had more eligibility than just one year but we will make the most of it.
Sofia Holden, a freshman from Mexico City is getting more and more used to life here at BYU with every week. Sofia is a dynamic, exciting athlete that brings a lot of excitement to the team. It will be fun to see how good Sofia gets. Sofia and Rebecca Pike formed a tough doubles combination against Wisconsin this past weekend adding to our 4-3 win. I am Looking forward to see how they do this weekend.
Lauren Jones, a freshman from Southern California is also becoming more adjusted with every match. Another incredible talent Lauren's game is finding is the consistency that could take her to lofty heights.
Olga Boulytcheva is having a very solid sophomore campaign to this point, all with shin splints. We have been trying to give Olga some rest hoping to get her back to full strength. Although the injury doesn't seem to bother her performance it would be great to have her at full strength.
Rebecca Pike and Hadley MacFarlane have been an absolute strength to the team. Having these two players playing at 5 and 6 sure makes our coaching staff feel good about any match. Our depth is without a doubt our strength, which is obvious having the caliber of players like Rebecca and Hadley at the back of the lineup. Rebecca, to this point in the season has only lost one match in doubles play with three different doubles partners and that was against No. 3 Berkeley. Hadley has only lost two singles match to this point.
Nicole Schneider has played well in doubles action so far this season. She is yet to lose a match. Also to all those fans out there that keep up with how we are doing. You would not know this by checking the results but each duel meet we nearly always play a number seven match. There have only been a couple of instances that we have not played a number seven and Nicole is undefeated to this point in time. Nicole has beaten Washington's, Washington's State's, Wisconsin's, Boise State's, Kansas and on an on. She is eagerly awaiting her opportunity.
For those who were wondering what happened to our long time warrior Lu Oswald. After returning successfully from major shoulder surgery and a year lay off Lu unfortunately herniated a disk in her back at National indoors. We are eagerly awaiting her return hopefully in the not to distant future. In the mean time Lu is an invaluable asset as coach. Lu successfully helped Barbara pull the deciding match against Wisconsin this past weekend.
Final note, a big thanks to Holly, in my opinion, she is without a doubt the best assistant coach in the country. And, a huge thanks to all the fans that have given us so much support both in Provo, and while we've been on the road.