PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s tennis (13-6, 2-1 WCC) picked up its ninth win at home after beating Gonzaga, 6-1, at the Outdoor Tennis Courts on Saturday afternoon.
“What a great weekend of tennis,” said BYU head coach Holly Hasler. “Winning is always nice, but it’s the fight, determination and sheer willpower to do whatever it takes that makes me so proud. No doubt we have been this good all year, but truly believing it from within and uniting as a team has made the difference against Washington State and Gonzaga this weekend.”
Emilee Astle and Kara Lin put the Cougars on top early by defeating Tayler Gruber and Cate Broerman, 6-4. Leah Heimuli and Madeline Wanlass clinched the doubles point for BYU just moments later, beating Kate Ketels and Karuna Tsuruta, 6-4. Each team collected their fourth wins of the season as a doubles team. Astle and Lin are undefeated while Heimuli and Wanlass have just one loss.
Lin topped off a stellar day by giving the Cougars their second point of the match in a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Gruber. Wanlass faced Jenna Sloan in the No. 6 spot and won the match in two sets, 6-3, 7-5, to put BYU up 3-0. Abramyan sealed the win for BYU in a strong 7-6, 6-3 win over Ketels. With Abramyan’s win, the Cougars move to 9-1 on the season at home.
BYU kept its foot on the pedal as Heimuli took down Adrianna Sosnowska in the third frame, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2. Heimuli has now won eight-straight and is just one win shy of tying the longest Cougar win streak of the season. Broerman got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard, sneaking past Jiao in a tiebreaker, 7-5, 5-6, 1-0 (7). The Cougars ended the day on a high note, with Astle coming back to take down Tsuruta in No. 4 doubles in a third-set tiebreaker, 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 (7).
The Cougars will be on the road next week when they face San Diego on Saturday, April 10 at 10 a.m. PDT.
MATCH RESULTS
BYU 6, Gonzaga 1
Doubles Competition
1. Anastasia Abramyan/Helen Jiao (BYU) v. Hannah Jones/Adrianna Sosnowska (GU), 5-5, uf.
2. Leah Heimuli/Madeline Wanlass (BYU) def. Kate Ketels/Haruna Tsuruta (GU), 6-4
3. Emilee Astle/Kara Lin (BYU) def. Taylor Gruber/Cate Broerman (GU), 6-4
Order of finish: (3, 2)
Singles Competition
1. Anastasia Abramyan (BYU) def. Kate Ketels (GU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
2. Leah Heimuli (BYU) def. Adrianna Sosnowska (GU), 6-0, 2-6, 6-2
3. Cate Broerman (GU) def. Helen Jiao (BYU), 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (7)
4. Emilee Astle (BYU) def. Haruna Tsuruta (GU), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-0 (7)
5. Kara Lin (BYU) def. Taylor Gruber (GU), 6-0, 6-1
6. Madeline Wanlass (BYU) def. Jenna Sloan (GU), 6-3, 7-5
Order of finish: (5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4)