FRESNO -- The No. 49 BYU women's tennis team ended its three-match road trip on Monday with a loss to No. 16 Fresno St. The Cougars lost to the Bulldogs 5-2, ending a weekend in which BYU played three nationally ranked opponents in four days.
"This was a tough road trip for us," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "We knew we were going to have some tough matches. But now we just need to put them behind us and focus on the rest of the season."
The Cougars got off to a good start by claiming the doubles point. Rebecca Pike and Olga Boulytcheva won at the No. 3 spot by beating Kristy McRae and Vlatka Jovanovic 8-6. But the doubles portion of the match came down to the No. 3 position. But Hadley MacFarlane and Nicole Schneider beat Lucia Sainz and Katherin Winterhalter 9-8 in a tough match to claim the doubles point for the Cougars.
"I thought we really played well in doubles against a good team," said Manning. "But Fresno State came out determined in singles and took the match from us."
In singles, Boulytcheva was the only Cougar to win, which she did at the No. 3 position by beating Jovanovic 6-2, 6-3. Last week's MWC Player of the Week, MacFarlane, lost her first match of the dual match season losing to Winterhalter 6-2, 6-1. The loss gives her an impressive 9-1 record on the season.
The Cougars will return to Provo this week and will be in action on Saturday against No. 19 Notre Dame at 3 p.m. on the BYU indoor courts.
No. 16 Fresno State def. No. 49 BYU, 5-2
Doubles
1. Tallo/Carlotti (FS) def. Klempner/Reynolds (BYU), 8-3
2. MacFarlane/Schneider (BYU) def. Sainz/Winterhalter (FS), 9-8 (3)
3. Pike/Boulytcheva (BYU) def. McRae/Jovanovic (FS), 8-6
Singles
1. No. 11 Chloe Carlotti (FS) def. Dominique Reynolds (BYU), 6-3, 6-0
2. Lucia Sainz (FS) def. Elizaveta Klempner (BYU), 6-4, 6-4
3. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Vlatka Jovanovic (FS), 6-2, 6-3
4. Lucia Tallo (FS) def. Rebecca Pike (BYU), 6-1, 6-2
5. Katherin Winterhalter (FS) def. Hadley MacFarlane (BYU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Kristy McRae (FS) def. Nicole Schneider (BYU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2