LAS -- The No. 14 BYU wome's tennis team slammed
No. 51 UNLV in Las Vegas today 7-0, putting an end to the Rebels' seven
match winning streak.
The Cougars won two of the three doubles matches winning the doubles
point and taking the early lead. BYU saw wins from Cougar duos Barbora
Zahnova and Hadley Macfarlane, Rebecca Pike and Olga Boulytcheva.
BYU went six for six in singles, blanking the Rebels on every court. At
No. 1 singles spot, Zahnova posted a 6-4, 6-1 score to defeat Gyorgyi
Zsiros in straight sets. At the No. 2 position Sofia Holdan ran Agnieszka
Abram off the court in two sets as well, while teammate Lauren Jones had
to push her opponent to three sets, coming out on top in the tiebreaker.
Olga Boulytcheva, Rebecca Pike and Hadley Macfarlane also had key wins to
lead the Cougars to their 14th win of the season. Pike also overpowered
her opponent in a three-set match in the tiebreaker.
"The girls all fought so hard today," head coach Craig Manning said.
"They knew this would be a tough match, but they all put all they had
into it really showed."
BYU 7, UNLV 0Doubles
Zahnova/Holden (BYU) def. Abram/Ortiz-Luis (UNLV) 8-4
Zsiros/Smith (UNLV) def. MacFarlane/Oswald (BYU) 8-2
Pike/Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Treber/Constanti (UNLV) 8-4
BYU wins the doubles point
Singles:
Barbora Zahnova (BYU) def. Gyorgyi Zsiros (UNLV) 6-4, 6-1
Sofia Holden (BYU) def. Agnieszka Abram (UNLV) 6-2, 6-1
Lauren Jones (BYU) def. Anne Claire Ortiz-Luis (UNLV) 3-6, 6-4, 10-6
Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Cindy Treber (UNLV) 7-6, 7-5
Rebecca Pike (BYU) def. Claire Smith (UNLV) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8
Hadley Macfarlane (BYU) def. Merv Constanti (UNLV) 6-4, 6-1
PROVO -- As conference action begins this week, the No. 14 BYU women's tennis team (12-4) heads to Las Vegas to take on No. 68 San Diego State on Friday and No. 51 UNLV on Saturday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
The Cougars are coming off a huge win over No. 13 Clemson in Provo on March 16th. The Cougars were down 3-0 midway through the match, but Clemson could not close the deal as BYU powered back to overrun the Tigers 4-3.
BYU has other big road wins over top-ranked teams from USC and William and Mary. With conference play up and coming, the Cougars are ready to stay closer to home and compete with more familiar teams.
Friday's match-up against San Diego State will give the Cougars a chance to redeem their two losses to the Aztecs last season. BYU fell to the Aztecs in Provo during regular season and dropped its second loss in the final round of the Mountain West Conference Championships in San Diego. BYU placed second overall in the tournament.
The 6-7 Lady Rebels of UNLV bring a six-game winning streak to Saturday's match-up as they recently posted an upset over No. 42 Ohio State. In their last two meetings the Cougars beat the Rebels 6-1 and 4-2 respectively.
Both matches begin at 10 a.m. PST.