By Scott Armstrong
On their home courts against an unranked Utah squad, the BYU women”s tennis team fell behind early before storming back to earn a close 4-3 win on Friday.
“Sometimes when things don”t go well, you just have to stick with your plan and not deviate,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “For the most part, we did that today. Utah played well, and you have to hand it to them.
The day started off in a familiar way, as BYU”s Anastasia Surkova and Jenny Miccoli notched their eighth doubles win in a row, 8-3. But Utah secured the doubles point with narrow victories on courts two and three.
In singles, BYU needed to win four of six matches to overcome the doubles loss and get the win. Adding to the cause early were Chie Hayasaka and Lauren Jones. Hayasaka cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory on court four, and Jones won 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 spot.
Utah won the point from court three, but BYU”s Dolly Chang registered a win on court six, 6-3, 6-4, to keep the Cougars ahead by one.
In the No. 1 singles match, Surkova lost the first set in a tiebreak to Utah”s Elizabeth Ferris. Surkova challenged in the second set as well, but Ferris held on, 6-4, for the set and match wins, giving Utah another point.
With the overall score tied 3-3 with just one match to play, BYU”s Sofia Holden had her hands full on court five.
After winning the first set 6-4, Holden battled through an even second set, forcing a tiebreak. Holden fell behind 4-2 in the tiebreak, but she won the next five points to win 7-4 to secure the match and overall win for the Cougars.
“They came out and jumped on us early, and we just weren”t into it early,” Manning said. “Our two seniors, Lauren Jones and Sofia Holden, were clutch today in singles. Our girls deserve a lot of credit for just hanging in there against a tough team.”
Up next for BYU is another home match today at 1 p.m. against Oklahoma on the BYU outdoor courts. It should be a tough match, as the unranked Sooners are on a roll, having won three of their last four.
