ORLANDO, Fla. — No. 29 BYU women’s tennis battled in a ranked showdown Thursday afternoon but fell 4-1 to No. 41 UCF at the USTA National Campus.
BYU moves to 11-2 on the season.
UCF claimed the early edge by taking the doubles point. On court one, Gracie Levelston and Karina Mohamed dropped a 6-3 decision. Kendall Kovick and YuYun Chen fell by the same 6-3 score on court two. Sue Yan Tan and Bella Lewis were locked at 5-5 on court three when the point was decided.
In singles play, the Knights pushed ahead with straight-set wins on courts five and six. Sage Bergeson fell 6-1, 6-0, while Bella Lewis dropped a 6-3, 6-4 match as UCF built a 3-0 lead.
Levelston answered at the top spot with a composed 6-2, 6-3 victory, controlling rallies from the baseline and closing both sets with authority to put BYU on the board.
The clincher came on court two, where Kovick battled after a 6-1 first set and forced a second-set tiebreak before falling 7-6.
Two matches were left unfinished. Tan had taken the opening set 6-3 before dropping the second 6-2 and was tied 2-2 in the third. On court four, YuYun Chen dropped the first set 6-2 and was tied 6-6 in the second when play was halted.
Up Next
BYU continues Big 12 play Saturday with a road matchup against the Houston Cougars at 12 p.m. MST.