PROVO -- A sweep of Utah State gave the No. 43 BYU women’s tennis team its second home victory of the season Friday. With the win, the Cougars improve to 2-2 while the Aggies fall to 1-1.
“We’re really happy with how the team performed the things we’ve been working on this week,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “We can still do it better though.”
BYU came out strong in doubles play, sweeping all three matches despite changing the lineup. Freshmen McCall Jones and Megan Price started things out for the Cougars, handily defeating Bridgette Strickland and Hailey Swenson, 8-1. The team clinched the doubles point after an 8-2 win by juniors Kristina Doerr and Jocelyn Jensen. Elle Carney and Chie Hayasaka rounded things out for BYU after thwarting an attempted comeback by Aggies Monica Abella and Carla Limon.
“We have a lot of depth, and we are trying to give everyone a chance to play,” Manning said. “We’re going to continue doing that in the next few matches just to see where everybody is at.”
The momentum continued for the Cougars with quick wins on courts one, three and four. Hayasaka secured the match for BYU with a straight set win over Abella at the No. 3 position. Doerr added to the scoreline with her victory on court two.
Sophomores Carney and Liza Ezhova completed the sweep with wins in the last two matches. They each held their respective Aggie opponent to only one game.
The Cougars will travel to the Midwest next week to take on No. 14 Arkansas and No. 71 Wichita State.
Match Results
No. 43 BYU- 7
Utah State-0
Doubles
1. Jones/Price (BYU) def. Strickland/Swenson (USU) 8-1
2. Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Abella/Limon (USU) 8-5
3. Doerr/Jensen (BYU) def. Perry/Watts (USU) 8-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. M. Jones (BYU) def. H. Sweson (USU) 6-0, 6-3
2. K. Doerr (BYU) def. B. Strickland (USU) 6-0, 6-2
3. C. Hayasaka (BYU) def. M. Abella (USU) 6-2, 6-2*
4. M. Price (BYU) def. T. Perry (USU) 6-2, 6-3
5. E. Carney (BYU) C. Limon (USU) 6-0, 6-1
6. L. Ezhova (BYU) B. Watts (USU) 6-1, 6-0
*denotes clinching match—Order of Finish: 4, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6