Decisive Home Win for Cougars

PROVO -- In the first home match of the season, the No. 65 BYU women’s tennis team routed No. 74 Wichita State Thursday. Solid play across the lineup gave the Cougars the 6-1 victory, their second of the season.

“Everybody played really well,” BYU assistant coach Lauren Spencer said. “And everybody played their game, which is very important.”

In doubles play, BYU was able to get the two wins necessary to win the point. Elle Carney and Chie Hayasaka trounced their opponents 8-0 on court one. Kristina Doerr and Romina Nedakovic also recorded a victory to put the Cougars ahead going into singles.

BYU powered through singles play earning the win after just three matches. No. 54 McCall Jones, Doerr and Megan Price all dominated their respective challengers in straight sets to secure the victory for the Cougars.

“All the players are glad to be home,” Spencer said. “They are comfortable with these courts and the crowd and they were excited to be playing here, which is part of the reason they did so well.”

Hayasaka lost the first set on court three before coming back to take the second 6-1. Because the result was already set, she and Wichita State’s Delia Damaschin played a tiebreak rather than a third set. The BYU senior fell 10-4 to give the Shockers their only singles win of the day.

Nedakovic and Liza Ezhova made quick work of their opponents at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, to finish out the match. With the 6-1 win, the Cougars improve to 2-3 on the season while Wichita State falls to 1-3.

Saturday BYU will return to the court to play No. 60 Colorado. The 2-2 Buffaloes, who have already overcome two Mountain West teams this season, split matches last weekend, losing to No. 59 Sacramento State and beating No. 61 Utah. The Cougars defeated Colorado 4-3 in 2007 when the teams last met. CU has two singles players ranked in the top 100 and one doubles team coming in at No. 44.

“Colorado’s a tough team,” Spencer said. “We’re going to try to take it to them and play our best tennis.”

Match play begins at 9 a.m. at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, located east of South Field. Admission is free and all BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.

No. 65 BYU-6
No. 74 Wichita State-1
Doubles
1. Damaschin/Dalmacio (WSU) def. No. 18 Jones/Price (BYU) 8-5
2. Doerr/Nedakovic (BYU) def. Hanisch/Lazaroiu (WSU) 8-4
3. Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Carpen/Wakim (WSU) 8-0
Singles
1. No. 54 M. Jones (BYU) def. S. Dalmacio (WSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. K. Doerr (BYU) def. L. Lazaroiu (WSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. D. Damaschin (WSU) def. C. Hayasaka (BYU) 6-1, 1-6, 10-4
4. M. Price (BYU) def. F. Hanisch (WSU) 6-2, 6-3
5. R. Nedakovic (BYU) def. L. Wakim (WSU) 6-3, 6-1 
6. L. Ezhova (BYU) def. I. Carpen (WSU) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6