Women Get Big Win; Men Get Disappointed

PROVO -- Both the BYU women's and men's tennis teams were in action Saturday as the women hosted and beat the Washington Huskies while the men were upset by New Mexico at the Regional Playoff in Boise.

The women's team hosted the Denver Pioneers Friday night, 5-2, in a tough opening match of the season. Just 15 hours after ending that match, the Cougars took the court and beat the Huskies 5-1, winning two of the three doubles matches and four of five singles matches with one singles match not finishing.

"These are two really good teams to play the first week of the season," head coach Craig Manning said. "I was very concerned to play these teams without a warm-up match against a weaker team in our first two matches. At the same time, though, I was quietly confident that we could win. Playing these teams really helps us get going for the rest of the season."

Senior Lauren Jones battled sickness and an allergic reaction to win Friday and was forced to battle fatigue to win in Saturday's match. She easily took the first set against Washington's No. 1, Mathilde Cor, 6-2. The second set was a different story as Cor held every serve and broke Jones to take the second set 6-4. Jones broke first in the third set and went up 4-1, but Cor battled back to tie the set at four apiece. Jones held serve and had two break points to win the match, but she only needed one. She took the set and the match on a forehand that Cor could only hit long.

Other winners for the women's team included Anastasia Surkova, Kristina Doerr and Sofia Holden. Jenny Miccoli did not play in Saturday's match due to a stomach virus and Doerr took her spot with Surkova in doubles. Surkova and Doerr won in No. 1 doubles while Jones and Holden got the "W" in the No. 2 spot.

The men were not as fortunate as the women as they lost 4-0 to New Mexico. In October, they earned the No. 2 seed in the Regional Playoff including Boise State at No. 1, New Mexico at No. 3 and UNLV at No. 4. BYU was looking forward to a shot at Boise State, but New Mexico stopped the Cougars in their tracks and swept them in four straight singles matches.

The men's next match will be Thursday, Jan. 25 at UC Irvine. Their next home match will be a doubleheader on Feb. 2 against Northern Arizona University and the University of San Francisco. The women host Washington State on Friday, Jan. 26 at the BYU Indoor Tennis Facility, a match that will feature Jones' second chance at No. 85 Eka Burduli who beat Jones in a three-set tiebreak at the BYU Invitational in September. The match will start at noon and admission all Cougar tennis matches is free.

Match Results

Women's Tennis

BYU vs. The University of Washington

1/20/07

Singles

1.Lauren Jones (BYU) d. Mathilde Cor (UW) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

2. Anastasia Surkova (BYU) d. Tara Simpson (UW) 6-3, 0-6, 6-1

3. Kristina Doerr (BYU) d. Victoria Brymer (UW) 6-3, 6-3

4. Sofia Holden (BYU) d. Melinda Wong (UW) 6-2, 6-1

5. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) d. Joyce Ardies (UW) 6-4, 2-4 (ret. inj.)

6. Allison Rainey (UW) d. Dolly Chang (BYU) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles

1. Surkova/Doerr (BYU) d. Brymer/Rainey (UW) 8-3

2. Jones/Holden (BYU) d. Ardies/Cor (UW) 8-5

3. Wong/Simpson (UW) d. Haysaka/Chang (BYU) 8-3

Men's Tennis

BYU vs. New Mexico

1/20/07

Singles

Kamil Pajkowski (UNM) d. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 6-3, 6-1

Johnny Parkes (UNM) d. Chip Hand (BYU) 6-3, 6-3

Miles Bugby (UNM) d. Cale Planck (BYU) 7-5, 6-3

Chris Parkes (UNM) d. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-4)

Max Jones (UNM) and James Ludlow (BYU) DNF

Graeme Kassautzki (UNM) and Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) DNF

Doubles

Did not play