Netters End Regular Season With Loss to Utes

PROVO, Utah -- The BYU women’s tennis team fell in its last home match of the season to rival No. 53 Utah after a hard-fought 4-3 battle Friday.

The loss gave BYU a 9-11 overall record and 4-4 Mountain West Conference record going into postseason.

“The girls played tough today,” said Lauren Jones Spencer, BYU interim head coach. “We came out ready for doubles and played awesome. In singles we definitely had our chances. I think the girls did well, but we didn’t play our game the whole time.”

Megan Price and Callie Craig fought hard at the No. 1 position for a quick 8-4 win against Anastasia Putilina and Paige Miles. The Utes tied the doubles score with an 8-4 win at position No. 3 before Senior Elizaveta Ezhova and freshman Desiree Tran defeated Evgenia Kryuchkova and Lexi Provancha 8-3 to take the doubles point for BYU.

The Cougars couldn’t keep Utah back for long, losing three matches at positions No. 6, 1 and 3, respectively, in straight sets. Tran stopped the streak with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Kovarcikova at the No. 4 position to bring the overall score to 3-2 for Utah.

Senior Elle Carney took the lead against Pham after winning the first set 7-5, but Pham came back in the second to tie the match one set apiece. Despite Carney jumping ahead 3-0 to start the final set, Pham came back for the win (5-7, 6-4, 6-4) and the overall Ute victory.

Freshman Craig of Orem, Utah held on strong in the last singles match of the day, coming back to take the first set after falling behind at the beginning. Her opponent, Kryuchkova, took the second set, but Craig rallied to win the final and take the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. The win put the overall score at 4-3.

The Mountain West Conference tournament begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday in Denver.

BYU vs. No. 53 Utah

BYU-3 Utah-4

Doubles

1. Price/Craig (BYU) def. Putilina/Miles (U) 8-4

2. Ezhova/Tran (BYU) def. Kryuchkova/Provancha (U) 8-3

3. Kovarcikova/Pham (U) def. Carney/Paul (BYU) 8-4

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

1. No. 84 Anastasia Putilina (U) def. Megan Price (BYU) 6-4, 6-1

2. Callie Craig (BYU) def. Evgenia Kryuchkova (U) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

3. Sarah Pham (U) def. Elle Carney (BYU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

4. Desiree Tran (BYU) def. Lucia Kovarcikova (U) 6-4, 6-2

5. Paige Miles (U) def. Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) 6-2, 6-1

6. Lexi Provancha (U) def. Aubrey Paul (BYU) 6-2, 6-2

Order of finish: 6, 1, 5, 4, 3, 2