Cougars Sweep Utes 7-0

SALT LAKE -- In its second consecutive road win the No. 23-ranked BYU women's tennis team downed the Utah Utes on their own court in a 7-0 decision. With the win, the Cougars move to 9-3 on the season.

Standing out for BYU was the No. 2 doubles duo, Sofia Holden and Rebecca Pike. Holden and Pike played an extremely strong match against a tough Jessica Watts/Whitney Eber Utah doubles team winning in a quick 8-1 match.

"Sofia and Rebecca played so well at doubles today," head coach Craig Manning said. "I'm so impressed with that combination. They just play so well together."

Also posting big doubles wins for the Cougars were duos: Barbora Zahnova and Hadley Macfarlane at the No. 1 spot, and Olga Boulytcheva and Nicole Schneider at No. 3. With the three doubles wins; BYU claimed the first match point of the day.

In singles play the Cougars were nearly flawless. All six matches were done in two straight sets.

"Everyone stayed very focused today and played so tough, especially with such a vocal crowd," Manning said. "They (Utah) had a lot of fans here today and it was a lot of fun to play with that much energy coming from the crowd."

The Cougars will head to Oklahoma next week for three straight against Tulsa (Mar. 6), Oklahoma State (Mar. 8) and Oklahoma on March 9th.

BYU 7, Utah 0
Doubles: 
Zahnova/Macfarlane def. Esrock/Saucedo		8-4
Holden/Pike def. Eber/Watts				8-1
Boulytcheva/Schneider def. Alder/Jackson		8-2
Singles:
Barbora Zahnova def. Sheri Esrock			6-1, 6-1
Sofia Holden def. Whitney Eber 			6-5, 6-2
Lauren Jones def. Cinthia Saucedo			6-4, 6-4
Rebecca Pike def. Jessica Watts			6-3, 6-0
Hadley Macfarlane def. Janessa Jackson		6-3, 6-4
Nicole Schneider def. Rachel Alder 			6-3, 7-6

PROVO -- After going one-and-one on the road against Notre Dame and Wisconsin, the No. 23-ranked BYU women's tennis team (8-3) will face the Utah Utes (No. 75) on Saturday February 28th at 2:00 p.m. in the George S. Eccles Center.

Returning from their mid-west road trip, head coach Craig Manning feels the team pushed themselves to the limit against two tough opponents. The Cougars took Monday and Tuesday off to rest and recover and regroup.

"I just felt like they were all so exhausted half way through the match against Wisconsin," Manning said. "None of them gave up, but I could tell they were really worn out. I think that with the break, they will come out with a lot of energy this week."

This week BYU doubles duo of Hadley Macfarlane and Barbora Zahnova received a No. 34 ranking after going 6-5 on the season in doubles play thus far. Coach Manning put the two players together at the beginning of the season knowing the pair would be strong for the Cougars at the No. 1 spot.

Senior Zahnova is a native from Slovakia and has come on strong this season as a leader on the team. Currently ranked 39th in the country, Zahnova is 7-3 in singles play posting some impressive wins over the country's top players to lead the Cougars to a 8-3 record.

Despite the exhaustion shown by the team in Wisconsin, Coach Manning is confident about the competition against Utah this weekend.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how we do on Saturday," Manning said. "It should be a good match. Our girls just play with so much heart, that I'm excited to see how we execute."