PROVO, Utah — No. 44 BYU women's tennis defeated West Virginia 4-0 Saturday afternoon with junior Kendall Kovick clinching the match for the Cougars at the Outdoor Tennis Courts on Senior Day. Today's victory was BYU’s eighth in Big 12 play in its first season in the conference and its second consecutive win overall.
"This was a huge weekend for us and great way to finish out the regular season. Travel in the Big 12 is no joke and the girls have persevered better than I could’ve possibly imagined. The seniors shined today. We will miss their energy and smiles, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for these three amazing young women," said head coach Holly Hasler. "As a transfer student from West Virginia, today was a huge mental battle for Kendall (Kovick). For her to take the clinching match was a tender moment that couldn’t have closed out the regular season in a better way. Overall, this team is something special and it’s fun to say, We are not done yet!"
The Cougars with their victory improved to 16-6 overall and 8-5 in the Big 12, recording the most wins in a season since 2007, when BYU won 22 matches.
Kovick secured victories in both doubles, alongside senior Emilee Astle, and singles today, leading BYU to victory. She improved to an 11-8 record in singles and a 9-5 record in doubles this year.
No. 120 Bobo Huang tallied her 15th singles win of the season, improving to 15-5 in 2024.
Senior Kaavya Sawhney improved her singles record to 4-6 this year with a 6-2, 6-3 win over West Virginia’s Maya Bordereau. Her win was the first of three singles victories that ultimately secured the match for the Cougars.
In doubles, Huang and Sawhney improved to 14-3 with a 6-0 victory today, for their second consecutive win without losing a game. Nationally ranked Astle and Kovick clinched the doubles point for BYU and improved to 8-5 on the year as a doubles team.
Doubles:
- No. 52 Astle/Kovick (BYU) def. Nagato/Kucharova (WVU), 7-5
- Huang/Sawhney (BYU) def. Chang/Dodik (WVU), 6-0
- Bossi/Borderau (WVU) def. Wheatley/Li (BYU), 6-3
The order of finish was 2, 3, 1
Huang and Sawhney took an early 2-0 lead and extended it to 4-0 before winning 6-0.
Bossi and Bordereau led Wheatley and Li 2-1, then increased their advantage to 4-1. They led 5-2 later in the set and won 6-3.
The doubles point hinged on the No. 1 match between Astle and Kovick and Nagato and Kucharova.
Astle and Kovick fell behind 2-1 and later trailed 3-2. They were behind 4-3 before Nagato and Kucharova increased their lead to 5-3. Astle and Kovick cut the deficit to 5-4 and tied the score at 5-5. Leading 40-15, Astle’s crosscourt shot put them ahead 6-5. They completed the comeback with a 7-5 win, clinching the doubles point for BYU and giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead. The victory brought BYU fans to their feet as Astle triumphed on Senior Day and Kovick defeated her former team.
Singles:
- No. 120 Bobo Huang (BYU) def. Camilla Bossi (WVU), 6-4, 6-1
- Kendall Kovick (BYU) def. Love-Star Alexis (WVU), 7-5, 6-0
- Kaavya Sawhney (BYU) def. Maya Bordereau (WVU), 6-2, 6-3
- Kara Wheatley (BYU) uf. Michaela Kucharova (WVU), 6-3, 3-3
- Emilee Astle (BYU) uf. Maja Dodik (WVU), 6-2, 5-2
- Maddy Smith (BYU) uf. Tatiana Lipatova (WVU), 6-7, 1-0
The order of finish was 1, 3, 2
Every singles match began with BYU taking a 2-1 lead on all six courts.
Huang quickly led 3-2 before she and Bossi were tied at 4-4. Huang won the first set 6-4 and took a 4-1 lead in the second set before she went on to win 6-1 to extend the Cougars' lead to 2-0.
Sawhney led 3-2 and extended her lead to 5-2 before winning the first set 6-2. She fell behind 2-1 in the second set, then took a 4-3 lead and won 6-3, putting BYU ahead 3-0.
Kovick took a 4-1 lead and was ahead 5-3 before Alexis tied the score at 5-5. Kovick won the next game for a 6-5 lead and eventually won the first set 7-5. She took a 5-0 lead in the second set and won 6-0, clinching the match 4-0 for the Cougars against her former team.
Wheatley held a 3-2 lead, extended it to 5-2, and won the first set 6-3. The second set was tied 3-3 with Kucharova before it was left unfinished.
Astle led 4-1 and won the first set 6-2. She quickly moved ahead 3-0 in the second set and was leading 5-2 and had a match point when the match was left unfinished.
Smith led 3-2 but later trailed 5-4 in the first set. The set was tied at 6-6 before Lipatova won 7-6. In the second set, Smith led 1-0 before the match was left unfinished.
With the regular season now complete, the Cougars will head to the Big 12 Championships next week in Stillwater, Oklahoma.