Seniors Shine in Last Home Match

PROVO -- Playing at home for the last time this season, along with celebrating Senior Day, the No. 47 BYU women's tennis team notched a 4-1 win over San Diego State on Saturday. With the win the Cougars improve to 10-8 on the season and 2-0 in Mountain West Conference play.

"We played really, really well today," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "Our momentum is really starting to roll and we're building confidence. Nothing has changed since the beginning of the season; we're not doing anything different, but we're just trying to get better all the time."

The Cougars jumped out to an early lead as Elle Carney and Chie Hayasaka made quick work of Esther Cadua and Milana Yusupova in doubles (8-1). The No. 35 senior duo of Jennifer Miccoli and Anastasia Surkova clinched the doubles point for BYU with their 8-4 win on court one.

After being down 3-1, No. 60 Dolly Chang and Kristina Doerr came back to win six straight games en route to an 8-4 comeback victory, completing the doubles sweep for BYU.

As singles play began, Hayasaka defeated SDSU's Eliska Krausova 6-1, 6-0, putting the Cougars up 2-0. The win marked back-to-back straight-set wins for Hayasaka over the past two days.

"Chie[Hayasaka] has been playing great," said Manning. "She's on fire and has really fallen into place this weekend. Her performance has given the team a shot of energy."

No. 80 Doerr soon followed with her own straight-set win (6-4, 6-2) on court two. Chang dropped a hard-fought 6-3, 6-3 match to Cadua at the No. 3 position, making it a 3-1 match.

Playing at the top position for BYU, No. 86 Surkova found herself down 4-2 early in the first set. The senior fought back to win three consecutive games to win the first set, and eventually go on to win the match, 7-6, 6-4.

"It wasn't pretty, but it worked," said Surkova. "I tried to stay focused and positive, even though during the second set I felt pretty nervous."

Next week the Cougars will travel to Wyoming where they continue conference play against Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming.

RESULTS
No. 47 BYU def. SDSU, 4-1
March 29, 2008
Doubles
1.  Miccoli/Surkova (BYU) def. Krausova/Nielsen (SDSU) 8-4
2.  Chang/Doerr (BYU) def. Kitts/Trunk (SDSU) 8-4
3.  Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Cadua/ Yusupov (SDSU) 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1.  A. Surkova (BYU) def. H. Bagshaw (SDSU) 7-6, 6-4
2.  K. Doerr (BYU) def. J. Trunk (SDSU) 6-4, 6-2
3.  C. Hayasaka (BYU) def. E. Krausova (SDSU) 6-1, 6-0
4.  E. Cadua (SDSU) def. D. Chang (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
5.  E. Ezhova (BYU) vs. M. Yusupov (SDSU) DNF
6.  E. Carney (BYU) vs. S. Nielsen (SDSU) DNF
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 1