The BYU women's tennis team again split its two road matches, narrowly falling to BYU-Hawaii on Thursday and defeating the University of Hawaii on Saturday.
The Cougars (6–5) have now split all three double-headers away from home this season, and are just 2–5 in their last seven matches after starting the season off 4–0.
Sophomore Meghan Sheehan-Dizon returns the ball during BYU's match against Utah State on Jan. 26. (Photo by Elliott Miller)
The Cougars match against Division II No. 2 BYU-Hawaii (10–1) went down to the wire, but the Seasiders were able to squeeze out a marginal 4–3 win.
'BYU-Hawaii played aggressive in doubles today and took control by winning those matches, BYU coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. 'We bounced back and fought hard in singles. Meghan (Sheehan-Dizon), Mackenna (Maddox) and Aubrey (Paul) pulled out some great wins today.'
The Seasiders dominated doubles play by handily winning all three matches. The Seasiders' Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu defeated junior Desiree Tran and sophomore Meghan Sheehan-Dizon 8–5. Marika Kobayashi and Marietta Tuionetoa beat BYU's sophomore Morgan Anderson and freshman Nicolette Tran 8–5 and BYU-Hawaii's Sasha Ulbrichtova and Jade Griffin overcame seniors Aubrey Paul and Andie Young 8–4.
The Cougars came back strong in singles play, with Sheehan-Dizon, Maddox and Paul all picking up key victories. In the end though, it wasn't enough for BYU as the Seasiders picked up three wins of their own to secure the 4–3 victory.
BYU was involved in another tight match Saturday against Hawaii in Honolulu.
After a day off Friday, the Cougars didn't show any signs of rust in their 4–3 win over the Warriors.
Solid doubles play has been vital in the Cougars six victories this season, and after a poor showing on Thursday, the Cougars came back strong on Saturday to pick up the doubles point.
Sheehan-Dizon and Nicolette Tran defeated Hawaii's Katarina Poljakova and Pualina Petriskova 8–3. Anderson and Maddox were next to finish after their 8–4 win over Rebecca Faltusz and Martina Kostalova, and Paul and Desiree Tran completed the sweep by beating Xenia Suworowa and Kelsey Daguio 9–8.
The doubles point proved to be the difference for BYU after the teams each won three singles matches.
The three Cougars that picked up wins against BYU-Hawaii, Sheehan-Dizon, Maddox and Paul, also picked up wins against Hawaii on Saturday. It was just enough to send the Cougars home with a win and a winning record.
BYU will host Portland on Wednesday in its next match.