No. 50 Cougars fall at No. 45 Saint Mary's

MORAGA, Calif. – Junior Nicolette Tran upset a nationally ranked opponent Friday but No. 50 BYU women’s tennis fell at No. 45 Saint Mary’s 4-3.

"It was a tough match," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "Saint Mary's is a great team. We just needed to dig in and fight a little more to pull out the win and weren't able to today."

The Cougars (7-7, 2-3) jumped to a 1-0 lead by capturing the doubles point. The BYU duo of Toby Miclat and Brittanie Eraso quickly beat No. 49 Jana McCord and Parminder Kaur 6-2. The Gaels (7-6, 1-0) bounced back at No. 3 to even the doubles score at one when Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Anderson-Littlewood fell to Jamie Pawid and Kareena Manji 6-4. With the doubles point on the line, Tran and Savannah Ware pulled out a big 7-6  win to clinch the point.

Saint Mary’s charged back in singles to take the next four points and the match. The Gaels secured victories at Nos. 4, 6, 5 then 1 to down the Cougars. Tran closed out her match at No. 2 singles against No. 103 McCord, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Miclat also won for BYU in singles play at No. 3 singles. She beat Pawid 2-6, 6-4, 1-0.

The Cougars head to Santa Clara for a matchup with the Broncos Saturday morning at 10 a.m. PDT.