BYU women’s tennis delivered a strong performance at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Mountain Regional in Provo last week, with two doubles teams reaching the quarterfinals and two singles players advancing to the round of 16 in the main draw.
The Cougars hosted the 2025 ITA Women’s Mountain Regional Championships from Oct. 7–11.
The tournament featured 64 players battling for 16 qualifying spots in the main draw, where 48 others awaited. Fifty-five doubles teams also competed in the doubles draw.
BYU’s biggest highlight came from junior Gracie Levelston and senior Kendall Kovick, who captured the doubles title after a dominant run through the draw.
Following a first-round bye, the pair defeated UNLV’s Ezter Ciz-Czako and Sofiia Sokolvak 8-4, then topped Air Force’s Sofia Mavor and Chaeyule Kang by the same score to advance to the quarterfinals. From there, they beat Colorado State’s Luana Avelar and Sorcha Caves 8-3 before cruising past Colorado’s Rixt Van Der Werff and Lera Alexin in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-1.
In the final, Levelston and Kovick continued their commanding play, defeating Northern Arizona’s Natalie Rainke and Madelyn Ludwig in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to claim the championship.
The victory secures their spot in the NCAA Division I Individual Doubles Championship, set for Nov. 18–23.
“Kendall and Gracie showed tremendous fight and execution to win the doubles championship,” BYU coach Holly Hasler said. “The resilience, teamwork and energy they brought was outstanding, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Freshmen Bella Lewis and Karina Mohamed also made an impressive run, defeating New Mexico State’s Montana Parkinson-Lubold and Emma Petton 8-2, Utah State’s Natalie Paterova and Olivia Halvorsen 8-7 (7-0), and Nevada’s Amahee Charrier and Kennedy Robinson 8-7 (7-5) to reach the quarterfinals.
The duo’s run ended against Colorado’s Rixt Van Der Werff and Lera Alexin, 8-4 — one win short of setting up an all-BYU matchup in the semifinal.
Partners Sage Bergeson and Yuyun Chen reached the round of 16 in doubles before falling to Idaho’s Naomi Schraeder and Jessica Matthews 8-3.
Bergeson, a true freshman, also made an early statement in singles. She qualified for the main draw by defeating Boise State’s Stella Beldiman 6-2, 6-1, and Wyoming’s Silver Bijlsma 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. She fell to Denver’s Hana Becirovic Novak in the first round of the main draw, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
Levelston carried her success into singles by defeating Nevada’s Silvia Maria Costache 6-0, 4-6, 6-1; Northern Arizona’s Natalie Rainke 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and Utah’s Kaila Barksdale in straight sets. Her run ended in the quarterfinals against Denver’s Louise Wikander, the eventual champion, in a close match that featured a tiebreak set, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Kovick advanced to the round of 16 after straight-set wins over UNLV’s Adi Bitton and Colorado State’s Sorcha Caves before falling to Boise State’s Tereza Polakova 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
Mohamed won her opening match against Northern Arizona’s Andrea Noguera 6-2, 7-5 but lost in the next round to UNLV’s Nikol Mircheva 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Chen dropped a hard-fought opening match, losing a first-set tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4) and the second set 6-4.
Of the team’s overall effort, Hasler said, “I’m incredibly proud of how our team competed and stayed locked in throughout the entire event.”
The Cougars’ next action will take place in Fort Worth at the TCU Invitational, Oct. 23–26.