Aubrey Paul returns the ball during her match against Boise State on Saturday. The Cougars defeated the Broncos to remain undefeated. (Photo by Sarah Hill)
The BYU women's tennis team remains undefeated after knocking off regional rival Boise State 6–1 in a match lasting over five hours Saturday afternoon at the indoor tennis courts in Provo.
BYU is the only undefeated team from the West Coast Conference with a 4–0 mark. The game was the first loss of the season for Boise State, which now sits at 4–1.
'We always play really well on our home courts,' BYU coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. 'Our team is really good this year. They stayed tough and pulled off the win.'
The match was much closer than the 6–1 scoreline would indicate though.
BYU picked up the doubles point for the fourth straight match. The Cougars have now won 11 of 12 doubles matches this season.
After a grueling two-and-a-half hour match last week, BYU junior Desiree Tran was the first to finish with a 7–5, 6–4 victory over the Broncos' Marlena Pietzuch. The win took the Cougars' lead to 2–0 and put Tran at 4–0 on the season.
At the No. 1 position, Boise State's Sandy Vo from Australia took Cougar sophomore Morgan Anderson to three sets before notching the Broncos' one and only point with a 4–6, 6–0, 6–3 win.
The next two matches to finish also went to three sets before being decided in the Cougars' favor. BYU sophomore Meghan Sheehan-Dizon also won her fourth consecutive match of the season with a 4–6, 6–1, 6–2 victory over Teal Vosburgh.
'The first set she came out taking control of the points, and I was being hesitant,' Sheehan-Dizon said. 'The next two sets I believed in myself, played smart, played how I play, and I was able to come away with the win.'
Freshman Nicolette Tran picked up the fourth and decisive point for the Cougars in another three-set match against Morgan Basil. After dropping the first set 3–6, Tran came back to win the next two sets 6–1, 6–3.
BYU senior Aubrey Paul finished off the scoring for the Cougars with her 7–6, 6–3 victory over Boise State's Sammie Watson. Freshman Mackenna Maddox was winning her match against the Broncos Megan LaLone when it was called because the overall match had already been decided and the BYU men's tennis team was about to begin its match against Denver.
The Cougars are now 4–0 for the first time since 2006 and will travel to Las Vegas this week for a double-header. They play UNLV on Friday and Iowa State on Saturday.