Women Open Season in Honolulu

PROVO -- The BYU women's tennis team will ring in the new year and open its spring season by playing dual matches against Hawaii and No. 13 Baylor this weekend in Honolulu.

"It's good to get to Hawaii and play at a lower altitude," said Cougar head coach Craig Manning. "We're going to work on our fundamentals and hopefully get off to a good start. I want to get the girls focusing on those performance cues that I want them to be aware of and get on the right path so we're playing our best tennis as the season progresses."

BYU seniors Anastasia Surkova and Jennifer Miccoli will see action for the first time since the close of the 2007 season. Despite their absences during the fall season, the nationally acclaimed doubles pair is currently ranked No. 8 in the ITA Central Regional Rankings.

Hawaii will host this weekend's matches at the UH Tennis Complex. The Rainbow Wahine's last outing was a mock dual match against No. 2 Stanford. In doubles play, the duo of senior Chloe Bihag and sophomore Sophie Kobuch earned an impressive 9-7 win against Stanford's No. 1 pair.

After a successful fall season, Baylor captured four of the top five spots in the ITA Southwest Regional Rankings. Senior and 2005 NCAA National Champion Zuzana Zemenova earned the highest singles ranking at No. 2 after finishing the fall season with a 6-2 mark.

The Cougars will face Hawaii on Friday at 4 p.m. and Baylor on Saturday at 2 p.m.