PROVO, Utah – No. 60 BYU women’s tennis fell at home 4-3 against No. 59 Utah in the Deseret First Duel Wednesday in Provo.

"We started strong winning the doubles point but we weren't mentally tough enough in a few matches today," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "Savannah has been solid for us all season and really stepped up today. Erica also played well today."

The Cougars (8-11, 3-4) got on the board first by capturing the doubles point. The Utes won at No. 1 singles to open play but BYU stormed back to take the next two and the doubles point. Morgan Anderson-Littlewood and Meghan Sheehan-Dizon won at No. 3 doubles 6-2 then Nicolette Tran and Savannah Ware secured a 7-5 victory at No. 2. Ware and Tran trailed 4-3 before powering back to clinch the point.

Utah (9-11) regained some momentum in singles when they tied the match up at one after No. 1 singles. Tereza Bekerova beat Sheehan-Dizon 6-1, 6-2 for the Utes first point. Ware continued her strong play with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Margo Pletcher at No. 4 to give BYU the 2-1 lead.

Utah went on to take the next three matchups in three sets each. Sarah Richter pulled out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Tran while Jena Cheng also won the first and third sets to beat Toby Miclat 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Luisa de Rosa clinched the match for the Utes with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Anderson-Littlewood at No. 5 singles. Erica Valimaki gave the Cougars their third point with a 7-5, 2-1 win at No. 6 singles.

BYU returns to the courts Friday when it hosts Gonzaga in its final home match of the season. The match will begin at 12 p.m. MDT and live stats are available through the schedule page.

PROVO, Utah – No. 60 BYU women’s tennis will host the Deseret First Duel with rival No. 53 University of Utah Wednesday in Provo.

The Cougars (8-10, 3-4) are in the midst of a three-game losing streak, their longest of the season, and will look to end it with the Utes in town. Savannah Ware, continued her strong play with a straight-set, singles victory in BYU’s 5-2 loss to No. 45 Rice.

Utah (8-11) also lost to Rice last week, falling 4-2, to end a five-match winning streak. The Utes enter a tough week with a match in Provo then away matches against No. 1 USC and No. 4 UCLA. The No. 67-ranked singles player in the nation, Tereza Bekerova, leads Utah as its top singles player and as a member of the No. 38 ranked doubles team with teammate Margo Pletcher.

The match will begin at 3 p.m. MDT and live scoring will be available through the BYU women’s tennis schedule page. 

The Cougars jump back into West Coast Conference play Friday when they welcome Gonzaga (11-5, 2-3) for senior day. The Zags come to Provo off of two conference losses to No. 33 Saint Mary's and No. 48 Portland.

Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Anderson-Littlewood are the only seniors on the squad and will be honored as they play their last home matches as BYU Cougars. The two seniors have teamed up in doubles to go 11-4 on the season including a 6-1 mark in WCC play. Sheehan-Dizon has played the most matches at No. 1 singles for BYU this season with 10 and Anderson-Littlewood is third on the team in singles victories with 11. 

The match will begin at 12 p.m. MDT and live scoring will also be available through the women's tennis schedule page.