By Scott Armstrong
Despite dropping a close 4-3 match to No. 56 San Diego St. on Friday, the No. 27 BYU women”s tennis team kept Mountain West Conference lead with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over No. 60 UNLV on Saturday in San Diego, April 14, 2007.
The Cougars opened play on Friday, carrying a 6-0 record in MWC play, but the Aztecs took full advantage of their home courts, as they rallied past BYU for the victory.
The Cougars used wins in two out of three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead, but they could not hold on in singles.
Anastasia Surkova and Dolly Chang were the bright spots for BYU, as they posted straight-set victories on courts one and six, respectively.
But courts two through five went to the Aztecs, who took control of second place in the conference standings with a 5-1 record.
“They outperformed us in singles,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “We played good doubles, and won the doubles point. We fought awfully hard in singles, but it wasn”t enough. We”re just a little down at the moment, but we”ll pick ourselves up for tomorrow.”
On Saturday, the Cougars needed a win over UNLV to keep the top spot in the MWC.
It did not look good early for the Cougars, as UNLV won the doubles point with victories on courts one and three.
But BYU roared back in singles, using straight-set wins from Sofia Holden, Chang and Surkova to take a 3-1 lead, just one point shy of the victory.
UNLV answered with straight-set wins on courts three and four to tie the score.
With the match dependent on court two, BYU senior Lauren Jones won the first set, 6-2, but lost the second, 3-6. The third set was close as well, but Jones held on for the 7-5 win to secure her match and the overall victory for BYU.
With the win, BYU is guaranteed at least a share of the MWC regular season title.
