Cougars Lose Opener to No. 23 Huskies.

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PROVO -- Senior Elizaveta Ezhova found success on the tennis court, despite the No. 73 BYU women’s tennis team losing 5-2 to No. 23 Washington Saturday.

"I thought the girls played really well," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "We were right there on all the courts."

In doubles, Ezhova and Elle Carney kept the match close as they battled Andjela Nemcevic and Samantha Smith on court No. 2. After tying 4-4, the Cougars took off to lead 7-4. Undeterred after losing the next set, the pair took the match 8-5.

No. 53 Callie Craig and Megan Price fell to Huskies Denise Dy and Venise Chan 8-1. Aubrey Paul and Andie Young also lost in a close match to Aleksandra Krsljanin and Lina Xu (8-6).

Ezhova continued to shine with a straight-set win against Xu in singles, taking the match 6-3, 6-3 for BYU’s first point of the day.

"Liza has been playing really well," Spencer said. "She fought hard. Aubrey also played really well, coming through with a win for us."

Aubrey Paul gave the Cougars their last point with her win against Krsljanin 7-6, 6-3.

Price lost to No. 55 Chan in singles, 6-2, 6-1, followed by Carney losing to No. 6 Dy 6-2, 6-3. Craig fell in the tiebreaker, losing to Smith 7-5, 5-7, 10. Desiree Tran, who began playing with the Cougars in January, lost to Nemcevic 7-5, 7-6.

The Cougars will play USF Thursday in Hawaii at 2 p.m. MT, followed by a match with Hawaii Saturday at 5 p.m. MT.

No. 73 BYU vs. No. 23 Washington 

BYU-2 Washington-5

Doubles

1. Chan/Dy (UW) def. No. 53 Craig/Price (BYU) 8-1

2. Carney/Ezhova (BYU) def. Nemcevic/Smith (UW) 8-5

3. Krsljanin/Xu (UW) def. Paul/Young (BYU) 8-6

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

1. No. 55 V. Chan (UW) def. M. Price (BYU) 6-2, 6-1

2. No. 6 D. Dy (UW) def. E. Carney (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

3. S. Smith (UW) def. C. Craig (BYU) 7-5, 5-7, (10)

4. A. Nemcevic (UW) def. D. Tran (BYU) 7-5, 7-6

5. E. Ezhova (BYU) def. L. Xu (UW) 6-3, 6-3

6. A. Paul (BYU) def. A. Krsljanin (UW) 7-6, 6-3

Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6