COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Jan. 16, 2009) –The No. 47 BYU women’s tennis team dropped its first match of the season on the road against No. 33 South Carolina Friday. The Cougars fall to 0-1 on the season after the 5-2 loss.

Doubles play began with an impressive showing by the young BYU squad. South Carolina came out strong and earned the first win of the match with an 8-3 victory. The Gamecocks were dominating in both remaining matches, leading 7-1 on court one and 6-1 on court three.

The young Cougar pairs showed their mental toughness, coming back to get the wins in both matches. Freshmen McCall Jones and Megan Price pushed the match to seven all before winning two games to secure the victory. The other win was picked up by sophomore Elle Carney and junior Chie Hayasaka, who edged out their USC opponents in a tiebreak and clinched the doubles point.

“I really liked our combinations,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “We got off to a slow start, but we just started to figure things out and came back and played really well.”

BYU struggled in singles play, with Hayasaka earning the lone point for the Cougars after a straight-set win over USC’s Miljana Jocic at the No. 4 spot. Hayaska’s victory gave the team a chance to stay alive with only two matches left to play.

The match came down to Price and Carney, who both competed hard to force a seventh game in the first set. But the Gamecocks eventually overpowered both players and earned the 5-2 scoreline.

“We’re right there competing,” Manning said. “We’re trying to do all the right things. We just need to work on adapting to the environment.”

The Cougars will play in their home opener next week against Washington State Friday at 11 a.m. and Washington Saturday at noon.

No. 47 BYU- 2

No. 33 South Carolina- 5

USC Indoor Field House

January 16, 2009

Doubles

1. Jones/Price (BYU) def. Vuckovic/Zubori (USC) 9-7

2. Jocic/Schofield (USC) def. Doerr/Nedakovic (BYU) 8-3

3. Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) def. Mansour/Miller (USC) 9-8 (6)

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles

1. #31 Schofield (USC) def. Jones (BYU) 6-4, 6-3

2. #54 Zubori (USC) def. #96 Doerr (BYU) 7-5, 6-2

3. Vuckovic (USC) def. Nedakovic (BYU) 6-1, 6-4

4. Hayasaka (BYU) def. Jocic (USC) 6-4, 7-5

5. Mansour (USC) def. Price (BYU) 7-5, 6-3

6. Miller (USC) def. Carney (BYU) 7-5, 6-3

Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6

PROVO -- The No. 47 BYU women’s tennis team will travel to South Carolina Friday to open its season against No. 33 University of South Carolina. With five returning players and four gifted new freshmen, including blue-chip recruit McCall Jones, the young team will have its first test of the season against the Gamecocks.

“South Carolina is a tough first match,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “We’re looking forward to it so we can see where we’re at.”

BYU and South Carolina have been evenly matched in the past with the Cougars holding a slight 9-8 advantage in the all-time series record. Last season, BYU upset the Gamecocks 5-1 with big wins in both singles and doubles play.

USC has two players ranked in the preseason polls with senior Gira Schofield coming in at No. 19 and junior Ana Zubori earning the No. 54 spot. The two are also ranked in doubles, just breaking into the top 20.

“We’ve worked hard to get our doubles teams good and to get players in and build a good team,” Manning said. “It should be an exciting year.”

Friday’s match against South Carolina begins at 4 p.m. ET.