Cougars gear up for UCSB Classic

PROVO -- Competing in its third tournament of fall play, the BYU women’s tennis team heads to Santa Barbara, Calif., to take on athletes from around the West Coast in the UCSB Classic.

The tournament kicks off at 10 a.m. Friday for the Cougars, with No. 2 seed Callie Craig and Megan Price battling Jill Damion and Jordan Dockendorf of UCSB in the first round in doubles bracket A.

Elle Carney and Aubrey Paul start their run in the tournament in doubles bracket B, facing Kathryn Webb and Ashley Payne of Cal Poly.

In bracket C, Elizaveta Ezhova and Annika Huish will take on Kelsey Knight and Chelsea Patton of Eastern Washington.

The tournament continues in singles play at 11:30 a.m., with freshman Craig taking on Kiersten Meehan of UCSB and No. 4 seed Price facing Khunpak Issara of Pepperdine in bracket A.

Carney, No. 1 seed for bracket B, also plays at 11:30 a.m., going up against Cal Poly’s Payne. At the same time, teammate Ezhova will face Amy Markhoff and teammate Paul will face Gabrielle Gatewood, both of Cal Poly.

Freshman Huish represents BYU in bracket C, which is a round robin style tournament. Huish will take on Eastern Washington’s Judy Liening Friday, and then will compete in matches against the other three players in bracket C.

Price and Carney won their last matches in the Cal Berkeley Invitational, both in the consolation quarterfinals of their respective brackets. The Cougars did not advance further in the tournament due to the BYU policy of not playing on Sunday.

Teams included in the UCSB Classic are Arizona, BYU, Cal Poly, Denver, Eastern Washington, Pepperdine and UCSB.

The tournament runs from Friday to Sunday.