Cougars Go One and One on the Road

SEATTLE -- In the final road match of the week, the BYU women's tennis team (No. 45) fell to the seventh-ranked Washington Huskies in a tough 5-2 decision. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 3-1 on the season while the Huskies move to 3-0.

BYU made an early run at the dual win when two of the three Cougar doubles teams overthrew their opponents scoring the first dual point for BYU.

Senior Lu Oswald and Rebecca Pike dropped Mugette Ahn and Erin Hoe of Washington 8-4, while teammates Sofia Holden and Olga Boulytcheva served up an 8-5 win over Saskia Nauenberg and Dinka Hadzic.

"We played really strong in doubles today," head coach Craig Manning said. "All three teams did really well. Their [UW] girls are just so tough, Barbora [Zahnova] and Hadley [Macfarlane] just couldn't hold on."

In singles play, Zahnova led the Cougars to their second and final point of the dual. Zahnova defeated the Huskies top seed Claire Carter (No. 35) in a 5-7, 6-3 (6) decision. BYU dropped its other five singles matches. Freshman Lauren Jones almost came back in the tiebreaker, but struggled to seal the deal.

"I'm very proud of Barbora," Manning said. "She never gave up and gave a great effort. I just think we can play a lot better than we played today. Washington is a tough team. They just outplayed us today."

The Cougars next event will be the National Indoor Championship in Madison, Wis. February 5-8.

Singles:
Barbora Zahnova (BYU) def. Claire Carter (UW) 		5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (6)
Dea Sumantri (UW) def. Sofia Holden (BYU)		     6-2, 6-1
Erin Hoe (UW) def. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU)		     6-3, 6-0
Dinka Hadzic (UW) def. Lauren Jones (BYU) 		    0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Saskia Nauenberg (UW) def. Lu Oswald (BYU) 		   6-1, 6-3
Mugette Ahn (UW) def. Rebecca Pike (BYU) 		     6-2, 6-4
Doubles:
Carter/Sumantri (UW) def. Zahnova/Macfarlane (BYU) 	8-5
Pike/Oswald (BYU) def. Hoe/Ahn (UW) 			             8-4
Holden/Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Hadzic/Mauenberg (UW)	8-5

PROVO -- The No. 45 BYU women's tennis team will be on the road for two straight this week as it faces the Cougars of Washington State (No. 51) and the seventh ranked Washington Huskies.

The University of Washington is 2-0 on the season and comes off a shut out against the Idaho Vandals last week. The seventh ranked Huskies have yet to lose a single set this season having swept their first two opponents.

BYU's top seeded Barbora Zahnova will go up against the Husky's No. 1 seed, Dea Sumantri from Jakarta, Indonesia in doubles and singles. Sumantri is currently ranked 49th nationally.

Washington State recently finished the PAC-10 Indoor Championships where it walked away with 14 wins, led by senior Lorena Arias. The Cougars look to avenge their loss against Washington State after falling 3-4 during the 2003 campaign.

"Our girls will be prepared for both teams," head coach Craig Manning said. "We've got some things to work on this week, but we will be ready. These matches will be true test for our team."