Berkeley, California – In its first tournament of the season, the BYU women's tennis team finished play Saturday at the Cal Fall Invitational.

“We got a lot of tennis in this weekend. I thought the freshmen did well in their first collegiate matches,” BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “We had some other tough three-set matches we weren’t able to pull out, but I was happy with how we fought.”

In the ITA Gold Singles, freshmen Hermehr Kaur and Madeline Almeida both had a great start to their collegiate careers each reaching the quarterfinals. On Friday, Kaur beat Cal Poly’s Caroline Williams in the first round 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and went on to the round of 16 to defeat Cal’s Jasie Dunk in a contested battle 7-6(2), 6-4. Kaur, unfortunately, defaulted due to injury in the quarterfinal play Saturday.

Almeida took the first round against Nevada’s Maria Tatarnikova 6-4, 6-1. In the round of 16 Almeida continued a strong showing to defeat Kristen Wiley of UCLA by a score of 6-4,6-0. Almeida fell to San Francisco’s Alexa Meyer in the quarterfinals today 6-0, 2-6, 4-6.

Sophomore Kate Cusick and freshman Anastasia Abramyan participated in the ITA Blue Doubles and earned a hard-fought victory in the first round on Friday beating Sacramento’s Caro Chemyetski and Maria Gonzalez 8-7(4). In quarterfinal play, Saturday, Cusick and Abramyan were defeated by Cal’s Karla Popovic and Olivia Hauger 3-8.

Samantha Smith and Almeida fell to Cal’s Anna Bright and Vivan Glozman in the first round of the Blue Doubles. The pair defeated Sacramento State’s Ana Loaiza and Jenna Dorian in the consolation bracket 8-2, but fell in the semifinal 3-8.

In the ITA Gold Doubles teammates, Taylah Beckman and Kaur advanced to quarterfinals Friday after defeating Nevada’s Claudia Herrero and Melissa Hutchet in a close match 8-7(1). Beckman and Kaur played another tight match Saturday morning but were defeated by conference foes Kareena Manji and Vanessa Nommenson of Saint Mary’s 5-8.

Cusick, Smith, Beckman and Abramyan all suffered first-round defeats in the Blue Singles on Friday. In the consolation round, Smith won by default due to injury in the first round and lost to Cal’s Vivian Glozman in the quarterfinals 2-6, 4-6. Abramyan defeated Nevada’s Mrta Ruedas Burgos 6-1, 6-0 in the first round, but fell in the quarterfinals to Pacific’s Karina Vrylan 1-6, 4-6. Cusick competed in the first round of consolation against UC Davis’s Kristy Jorgensen and lost 6-3, 6-1. 

Beckman defaulted due to injury and did not compete in the consolation round Friday. However, she was cleared to play in Round Robin draw Saturday and beat Saint Mary's Aubane Ville 6-3, 3-6, 10-4.  In the first round of the Gold Singles Katie Fitt was defeated in a tough battle against Sofi Wicker of Sacramento State 4-6, 4-6. Fitt played in the consolation round but retired from her match due to injury.

The Cougars now prepare for the ITA Regionals in Salt Lake City on Oct. 11-14.

Provo, UT— The fall tennis season for the Cougar women opens up this weekend at the Cal Fall Invitational, Sept. 29 through Sept 30. Junior Taylah Beckman, sophomores Samantha Smith, Kate Cusick, and Katie Fitt will be participating in the tournament. Freshmen Anastasia Abramyan, Hermehr Kaur and Madeline Almeida will also be competing in their first collegiate tournament.

“I’m looking forward to competing this weekend in Berkeley,” BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “We have a young talented team, so I am excited to see how we do in our first tournament.”

The Invitational will host individual players from 12 schools, including Cal, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Fresno State, Nevada, Sacramento State and UCLA. West Coast Conference foes Pacific, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's and San Francisco will also compete.

The matches at the Cal Fall Invitational will take place at the Hellman Tennis Complex on the Cal campus and at the Channing Tennis Courts, another set of courts a few blocks from campus. Both are outdoor facilities.

The Cal Fall Invitational will consist of three flights of singles and of doubles matches, usually called Blue, Gold and White flights, with the Blue flights in singles and doubles featuring each team's best players, the Gold flights including the next best players and so on to the White flights.

The six courts at Hellman have a live stream available at:

http://www.calbears.com/sports/2013/7/10/208646366.aspx

There's no live stream at the Channing courts. You can also check scores on twitter under @calwomenstennis

Last year, Cusick reached the semi-final round for the White flight singles. Smith and teammate Savannah Ware-Avina advanced to the semi-finals for the Gold flight doubles. This is the ninth consecutive year that the Cougars have participated in the invitational held in Berkeley.