No. 64 Cougars pull out a win at San Diego

SAN DIEGO – Toby Miclat delivered a thrilling three-set win to give the No. 64 BYU women’s tennis team a come-from-behind, 4-3 win on the road over San Diego in its final West Coast Conference match of the regular season Saturday.

The Toreros (3-14, 2-7) were first on the board after winning the doubles point. Nicolette Tran and Savannah Ware lost their No. 2 doubles matchup 6-4 and San Diego clinched the point at No. 3 doubles by beating seniors Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Anderson-Littlewood 6-4.

The Cougars (10-12, 5-4) battled back in singles play, winning at Nos. 3-6 to take four of the six matchups. Ware tied the match up at one at No. 4 singles with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Mikayla Morkel-Brink. The Toreros recaptured and extended the lead 3-1 in the top two singles spots where Drew Spinosa beat Tran 6-2, 6-2, and Marta Stojanovic recorded a 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 win over Sheehan-Dizon.

Erica Valimaki came up big for BYU with the team’s back against the wall at No. 6 singles, bringing the Cougars back to within one with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 triumph over Janine Koleta. Anderson-Littlewood tied it up at three, beating Shani Blecher 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

With the match tied, the result came down to No. 3 singles where Toby Miclat battled Dana Oppinger into a third set tiebreak. With the match in the balance, Miclat proved victorious, winning her matchup 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) to give the Cougars the overall victory.

BYU returns to San Diego, the site of the WCC Conference tournament, next week as the fifth seed and one of five ranked teams in the conference. The tournament begins next Wednesday.