The BYU Women’s tennis invitational ended Saturday with disheartening results but a positive outlook from the team.
After a three-day battle for the singles and doubles titles, the Cougars finally fell out of the competition on Saturday.
“It was a good tournament,” head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “It was a good indicator of where we are and where we need to be, so it helps us gauge what we need to work on in moving forward.”
The opening of the tournament looked promising as six of the Cougars advanced to the quarterfinals in singles and doubles, but Friday’s matches proved to be less fortunate when all five of BYU’s players in the singles tournament were defeated.
In doubles play, Junior Desiree Tran and sophomore partner Meghan Sheehan-Dizon, secured a place in the finals on Friday after winning two doubles matches. The first match Friday against Wyoming the duo closed out 8-5, the second finished quickly at 8-1 versus Weber State.
But in the end, Tran and Sheehan-Dizon fell in Saturday’s finals to Wyoming’s Simona Synkova and Veronica Popovici 8-3.
Tran also made it to the singles semifinals Friday afternoon, but was knocked out by Wyoming’s Synkova 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, after Tran had played two doubles matches and a singles match earlier that same day.
“Exhausted” is the one word Tran used to describe how she felt after her four matches on Friday.
“I fought with all that I had,” Tran said. “But when it came down to it, she won.”
Synkova went on to win the finals, beating out Utah State’s McKenzie Davis 6-2, 7-5.
“Coming into future matches I have a lot to improve,” Tran said. “I’ve just decided for the next matches to see how well I can do.”
Her main take away after the grueling three-day-tournament is “end matches sooner.”
For senior Aubrey Paul, who made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Wyoming’s Popovici, it is all about who is there for the invitational.
“The thing I love most about the invitational is that the entire team is here,” Paul said. “Plus, we have all of our fans and friends and family that can come out and actually watch us. It’s always fun having that support.”
In moving forward Jones-Spencer said she plans to work on doubles more, and has confidence the team will get better as the team gets more playing time.
“Going into it we hadn’t had that much time to practice,” Jones-Spencer said. “As we go on in the fall we’re going to get better every match. The more experience, the more matches we play, we’ll get better. So hopefully by regionals we will hit our peak.”
