SEATTLE -- Playing a highly ranked opponent didn't phase the No. 21 BYU women's tennis team as they outplayed and beat No. 25 Washington 6-1 on Saturday. With the win the Cougars move to 3-0 on the season and leave the Huskies at 0-1.
"The girls really stepped up and played well against a tough opponent," Coach Craig Manning said. "We had a lot of positive energy today and the girls supported each other through the entire match."
Although they won the match, things started out shaky for the Cougars, as the Huskies' doubles teams gave them some problems early on. Washington got the first win of the match with Dinka Hadzik and Tory Brymer outplaying BYU on the No. 1 court and winning 8-3. With their backs up against the wall the Cougars started gaining momentum behind an 8-2 doubles victory by Anastasia Sourkova and Jenni Miccoli. BYU finally sealed the doubles point with a come-from-behind victory by Olga Boulytcheva and Sofia Holden, who were able to shake off a rocky start and finish strong with an 8-5 win.
"We're starting to do the little things better," Manning said. "Winning on someone else's court starts to tell you how good you are."
The Cougars played great tennis on the singles side of the match as well, winning on five of the six courts. No. 33 Olga Boulytcheva continued her winning ways, beating Dinka Hadzik 6-2, 6-3, with Dolly Chang and Sourkova following suit and winning their matches to seal the match for BYU. Juniors Lauren Jones and Sofia Holden played especially good and almost identical tennis on courts two and four, as both of them had to come from behind in order to pick up victories. Jones and Holden dropped their first sets 3-6, but came back strong in their second sets with Jones winning 6-3 and Holden holding off her opponent 6-2. The momentum gained from those second sets was enough to catapult Jones and Holden through their third sets to 6-2 and 6-1 wins, respectively.
So far BYU has played great tennis on the court, but Manning credits his teams success to what is happening off of it. He said the way the team has bonded has helped them in the tough matches they've played so far this season.
"The team chemistry is just fantastic, and the girls have really pulled together," Manning said. "We're having fun competing as a team."
BYU next takes its chemistry to the state of Colorado where they will compete against the University of Colorado on Jan. 27 and the University of Denver on Jan. 28.
N0. 21 BYU v.s. No. 25 Washington
BYU 6 Washington 1
Doubles
1) Hadzic/Brymer (UW) def. Jones/Chang (BYU), 8-3
2) Boulytcheva/Holden (BYU) def. Rainey/Kolbovic (UW), 8-5
3) Sourkova/Miccoli (BYU) def. Svanfeldt/Simpson (UW), 8-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1) (33) Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Dinka Hadzic (UW), 6-2, 6-3
2) Lauren Jones (BYU) def. Tara Simpson (UW), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
3) Anastasia Sourkova (BYU) def. Tori Brymer (UW), 7-5, 6-2
4) Sofia Holden (BYU) def. Allison Rainey (UW), 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
5) Dolly Chang (BYU) def. Stephanie Svanfeldt (UW), 6-4, 6-3
6) Melinda Wong (UW) def. Rana El Derwy (BYU), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 1, 5, 3, 2, 4