Women's Tennis Loses to TCU in Quarterfinals

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A strong performance in doubles wasn’t enough to push the BYU women’s tennis team ahead of No. 71 TCU, who defeated the Cougars 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday.

"We came out and played tough in doubles," said Lauren Jones Spencer, BYU interim head coach. "I was really happy with our doubles play. In singles, they played to win and we didn't play our game the whole time. I feel like overall we had a good season. We worked hard and hopefully we'll learn from this and be stronger next year."

The loss ended the season for the No. 5 seeded Cougars, who earned a 9-12 overall record and 4-4 conference record.

Freshman Callie Craig, a product of Orem, Utah, and team captain Megan Price quickly shut down No. 4 seed TCU’s Katariina Tuohimaa and Maria Babanova 8-1 at the No. 1 position. TCU (12-10, 5-3) took the second match to tie doubles play, but senior Elle Carney and Aubrey Paul, a native of Sandy, Utah, took down Idunn Hertzberg and Gaby Mastromarino 8-6 to grab the doubles point for BYU.

The match got tough for the Cougars as singles play began. Paul fell in straight sets to Shalini Sahoo (6-1, 6-1). Horned Frog Tuohimaa achieved a narrow 6-4 victory against Price in the first set and followed up with a 6-2 victory in the second to take the match and put TCU ahead 2-1. Carney suffered the team’s third straight-set singles loss at position No. 3 after a 6-3, 6-4 battle against Mastromarino.

With Craig ahead of TCU’s Olivia Smith 6-2, 5-4 and on the brink of winning a second point for the Cougars, senior Elizaveta Ezhova fell to Hertzberg 6-2, 6-4, clinching the match for TCU. The last two singles matches were suspended following the loss.

TCU advances to the semifinal match against No. 38 UNLV, the No. 1 seed of the tournament.

BYU vs. No. 71 TCU

No. 5 seed BYU-1 No. 4 seed TCU-4

Doubles

1. Megan Price/Callie Craig (BYU) def. Katariina Tuohimaa/Maria Babanova (TCU) 8-1

2. Federica Denti/Olivia Smith (TCU) def. Elizaveta Ezhova/Desiree Tran (BYU) 8-4

3. Elle Carney/Aubrey Paul (BYU) def. Idunn Hertzberg/Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) 8-6

Singles

1. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Megan Price (BYU) 6-4, 6-2

2. Olivia Smith (TCU) vs. Callie Craig (BYU) 2-6, unfinished

3. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) def. Elle Carney (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

4. Federica Denti (TCU) vs. Desiree Tran (BYU) 7-5, unfinished

5. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) 6-2, 6-4

6. Shalini Sahoo (TCU) def. Aubrey Paul (BYUW 6-1, 6-1