MORAGA, Calif. – Junior Nicolette Tran upset a nationally ranked opponent Friday but No. 50 BYU women’s tennis fell at No. 45 Saint Mary’s 4-3.

"It was a tough match," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "Saint Mary's is a great team. We just needed to dig in and fight a little more to pull out the win and weren't able to today."

The Cougars (7-7, 2-3) jumped to a 1-0 lead by capturing the doubles point. The BYU duo of Toby Miclat and Brittanie Eraso quickly beat No. 49 Jana McCord and Parminder Kaur 6-2. The Gaels (7-6, 1-0) bounced back at No. 3 to even the doubles score at one when Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Anderson-Littlewood fell to Jamie Pawid and Kareena Manji 6-4. With the doubles point on the line, Tran and Savannah Ware pulled out a big 7-6  win to clinch the point.

Saint Mary’s charged back in singles to take the next four points and the match. The Gaels secured victories at Nos. 4, 6, 5 then 1 to down the Cougars. Tran closed out her match at No. 2 singles against No. 103 McCord, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Miclat also won for BYU in singles play at No. 3 singles. She beat Pawid 2-6, 6-4, 1-0.

The Cougars head to Santa Clara for a matchup with the Broncos Saturday morning at 10 a.m. PDT. 

PROVO, Utah – No. 50 BYU women’s tennis heads to northern California for two West Coast Conference matchups this weekend against No. 45 Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara on Friday and Saturday.

The Cougars (7-6, 2-2) will look to continue to build momentum after a strong weekend last week with a conference win over LMU and a victory over visiting Oregon when senior Meghan Sheehan-Dizon clinched the match for BYU at No. 1 singles in a three-set thriller. The Cougars are also looking for the first conference road win on the season this weekend.

The Gaels (6-6, 0-0) are one of the other two ranked teams in the WCC and will play their first conference match of the season when BYU visits on Friday. Saint Mary’s is led by Danielle Flores who is ranked No. 70 nationally in singles and Jana McCord who is also ranked at No. 103. The Gaels also boast the No. 49 ranked doubles duo made up of McCord and Parminder Kaur.

Santa Clara (3-6, 0-1) used a strong showing against UC Davis to win 5-2 last weekend and snap a six-match losing streak. The Broncos head into the weekend with a loss in their only WCC match against San Francisco who also beat the Cougars 4-3 in San Francisco two weeks ago.

BYU will return home after the road trip for a matchup with Pac-12 foe Washington State next Thursday at 12 p.m. in Provo.