Harold "Hal" Nelson Tennis Courts
3601 Pacific Avenue Stockton CA 95211
Provo, UTAH – After Friday's match against Saint Mary's was rained out, BYU women's tennis defeated Pacific 4-1 on Saturday at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center in Stockton, California.
"It was a tough weekend due to the weather, but the girls did a great job adjusting and stepped up against two good teams," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "Natella had a great weekend of singles and played tough tennis and I'm happy to see her get some big wins for the team."
Due to inclement weather, doubles competition was suspended and the contest between BYU (7-9, 2-2 West Coast Conference) and Pacific (5-11, 0-6 WCC) was limited to just singles play.
With the Cougars commanding a 3-1 lead, senior Natella Nabieva clinched the match in a three-set thriller by the score of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 at second singles against the Tigers' Anna Ramos Vinolas
Freshman Kate Cusick scored the match's first point for the Cougars with a 6-2, 6-4 win at third singles over Anneroos Nederstigit of Pacific. The Tigers' Saenz Deburuaga Ruiz evened the count with a victory over BYU's Samantha Smith, winning 6-1, 7-5 on court No. 4.
Sophomore Taylah Beckman next defeated Pacific's Sabrina Rodriguez at fifth singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win to give BYU the 2-1 lead. Senior Savannah Ware-Avina won her match at first singles with a 7-6 (8-4), 6-2 win before Nabieva clinched at the No. 2 spot.
BYU returns home to host Pepperdine on Friday, April 14 at noon MDT. Admission is free to the public and free pizza will be served.
PROVO, Utah – With six matches remaining in the 2017 regular season, BYU women's tennis continues its West Coast Conference schedule with matches on Friday and Saturday this weekend in California.
The Cougars face the Saint Mary's Gaels (8-6, 3-1 WCC) on Friday at 2 p.m. PDT before visiting Pacific (5-9, 0-4 WCC) on Saturday with play beginning at noon PDT.
BYU (6-9, 1-2 WCC) is coming off a four-match home stand that produced three victories with wins over Utah State, Houston and Portland. The Cougars are led by seniors Savannah Ware-Avina and Natella Nabieva and BYU currently stands seventh in the WCC rankings with all six remaining matches scheduled against WCC opponents.
After a slow 0-3 start to the season, Saint Mary's has posted a 8-3 record and now looks to protect a 5-3 home court record against the Cougars. The Gaels sit in fourth place in the WCC standings and recently defeated conference opponents San Francisco, 4-0, and Santa Clara, 4-2, with both matches being played on the road.
Pacific will defend a 2-3 home record while still searching for their first conference victory of the season. The Tigers look to end a five-match skid with losses coming against WCC opponents San Francisco, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Prior to Saturday's match, the Tigers will host the Dons of San Diego at home on Friday.
Fans can check the BYU schedule page for information regarding live coverage.