PROVO, Utah (March 16, 2002) ? The No. 44 BYU women?s tennis team won the doubles point, and then cruised in singles to defeat Rice 6-1 Saturday afternoon. The Cougars (6-8), who lost a tough match to Kansas State Friday night, overcame some injuries and tired bodies to bounce back with an important win.
?Our team was so beat up,? BYU head coach Craig Manning said. ?Everybody was pretty down after yesterday, so it was nice to play well and get the win.?
Lindsay Ferrell and Lu Oswald rallied at the No. 2 position to clinch the doubles point for the Cougars, winning their match 9-8 (7-4). Brooke Beverley and Dominique Reynolds won convincingly at No. 1, 8-4, and Elizaveta Khoudoiarova and Nicole Schneider had already lost at No. 3, so the point came down to the tiebreaker at No. 2.
?Things are coming together,? Manning said. ?Doubles is doing really well at No. 1 and No. 2.?
Singles was not nearly as closely contested, as BYU dominated and won five matches in straight sets. Ferrell won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1, while Oswald won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2. Beverley continues to play well and won her match at No. 3, 6-2, 7-5. Reynolds moved up to No. 4 and Khoudoiarova dropped down to No. 5, but both easily won. Ferrell and Khoudoiarova are both nursing minor injuries, but should be good to go in BYU?s next match.
The Cougars will take Sunday off, but play again Monday afternoon against No. 29 Texas Christian University. The match will be the Cougars? final home match of the season, not counting when BYU hosts the Mountain West Conference Championships Apr. 25-27.
?It will be good to have the day off tomorrow, but we?ll be fine for Monday,? Manning said. ?It?s going to be a tough match.?
FINAL RESULTS
DOUBLES
No. 1Beverley/Reynolds (BYU) def. Chuda/Jecminkova (RU) 8-4
No. 2Ferrell/Oswald (BYU) def. Goodrich/Hagedorn (RU) 9-8 (7-4)
No. 3Briaud/Chao (RU) def. Khoudoiarova/Schneider (BYU) 8-5
BYU WINS DOUBLES POINT
SINGLES
No. 1Lindsay Ferrell (BYU) def. Natalie Briaud (RU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2Lu Oswald (BYU) def. Judith Hagedorn (RU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 3Brooke Beverley (BYU) def. Jeri Gonzales (RU) 6-2, 7-5
No. 4Dominique Reynolds (BYU) def. Annie Goodrich (RU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 5Elizaveta Khoudoiarova (BYU) def. Karen Chao (RU) 6-3, 6-0
No. 6Erika Villalobos (RU) def. Nicole Schneider (BYU) 7-5, 6-0
BYU WINS MATCH 6-1