Six Cougars advance after day one of tournament

PROVO, Utah - Six Cougars advanced to the quarterfinals after day one of the BYU Invitational at the Outdoor Tennis Courts Thursday.

“It’s always tough your first match of the year, but I thought they girls played well,” head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “I’m excited to see how they do moving forward.”

The BYU duo of Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Desiree Tran quickly defeated Weber State’s Annika Karlsen and Ashley Tanner, 8-2. Freshman Mackenna Maddox and senior Andie Young topped teammate Lisa Waldron and Boise State’s Teal Vosburgh, 8-4.

BYU’s last doubles team of Morgan Anderson and Aubrey Paul fell to Kristi Elmer and Thais Kurer from Weber State, 8-4.

In singles play, five Cougars advanced to the quarterfinals. In the first round, Paul topped Wyoming’s Silviya Zhelyazkova, 6-4, 6-6, 7-5. Maddox also won her first match of the day against Kurer, 6-0, 6-1, but lost her second match, 6-4, 6-3, to Simona Synkova from Wyoming.

In the second round, Sheehan-Dizon defeated Kristina Voytsekhovich from Utah State, 6-2, 6-1. Paul’s match was the last to finish as she came out on top over Weber State’s Ashley Tanner, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Sophomore Morgan Anderson overcame a close first game to beat her Utah State opponent, Kallie Sperry, 7-5, 6-1. Young also came out of her singles match victorious, 6-2, 7-5, against Annika Karlsen from Weber State.

In the longest game of the tournament up to this point, Tran narrowly defeated Vosburgh, 6-7(3-7), 6-1, 6-4.

Waldron had a bye for the first two rounds then fell to Wyoming’s Titi Espinosa, 6-1, 6-1.

The second day of the tournament begins with doubles at 9 a.m. Friday. Singles play starts at noon.

Admission is free and open to the public. The tournament can be followed here.