Cougars Knock Off No. 14 William and Mary

MADISON -- To end its seventh appearance in the USTA/ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship, the BYU women's tennis team knocked off No. 14 College of William and Mary 4-3.

The Cougars began their competition among the nations elite by falling hard to No. 3 California 7-0 on the first day of play. In the first round of consolation, BYU ousted the No. 5-ranked Trojans of USC in a 6-1 decision.

Today the Cougars battled in a nail-biter to defeat a tough College of William and Mary team. Clinching the win for BYU was Sophomore Hadley Macfarlane's win over Linda Yang in a three-set battle 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

"I am so please with how our girls played this whole week," head coach Craig Manning said. "They came here and stayed very focused. We just executed so well."

The Cougars got an early lead on William and Mary winning all three doubles matches, scoring the first point for BYU.

In singles play, the Cougars dropped their No. 1,2 and 3 matches to the tribe to fall behind 1-3 in the event. Freshmen Lauren Jones nearly knocked off Amy Wei of William and Mary in the third set.

Posting significant wins for BYU were Olga Boulytcheva, Rebecca Pike and Macfarlane's three-set finish.

"I am so proud of the girls backing up yesterdays win over USC with a big win today against a really good team," Manning said. "I couldn't be happier. It's just so nice to walk away from a big tournament like this with some wins."

The Cougars will be back in action in Provo February 13 as they play host to Kansas, followed by a Noon match against the University of Denver.

BYU 4, William & Mary 3
Doubles
1. Zahnova/MacFarlane (BYU) def. Muth/Wei (W&M)		          	8-5
2. Jones/Holden (BYU) def. Sherbakov/Boomershine (W&M)		    8-5
3. Pike/Nicole Schneider (BYU) def. Yang/Mowery (W&M)		     8-3
BYU wins doubles point
Singles
1. Megan Muth (W&M) def. Barbora Zahnova (BYU) 		          	7-6 (6), 6-4
2. Lena Sherbakov (W&M) def. Sofia Holden (BYU) 		         	6-0, 6-3
3. Amy Wei (W&M) def. Lauren Jones (BYU)				                6-4, 4-6, 6-3
4. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Kate Boomershine (W&M) 	    	6-3, 6-4
5. Rebecca Pike (BYU) def. Emily Mowery (W&M) 			           6-2, 6-2 
6. Hadley MacFarlane (BYU) def. Linda Yang (W&M) 		        	6-4, 3-6, 6-2*
* - clinched win for BYU