FORT WORTH -- Earning the doubles point made the difference for the No. 57 BYU women’s tennis team in a close 4-3 victory over New Mexico Friday. The Cougars remained undefeated in Mountain West Conference play and improve to 11-6 on the season with the win.

“We had a mixed bag with our performances,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “As a team, in general, we feel we can play a lot better than we did.”

McCall Jones and Kristina Doerr struck first, winning their match 8-5 on court one. New Mexico notched a victory at the No. 3 position and the point came down to Elle Carney and Megan Price on court two. The Australian pair won 8-5 to give BYU the advantage going into singles play.

Carney and Price also had commanding singles performances with wins on courts six and four respectively. Sophomore Liza Ezhova clinched the victory for the Cougars with her straight-set win at the No. 5 position.

New Mexico continued to fight and won at court one and two in tiebreaks after splitting sets. The Lobos also recorded a win at the No. 2 position to finish the match at 4-3.

“My ultimate goal is to have all three doubles teams and all six singles players focus and execute as well as they can on the same day against a strong opponent,” Manning said. “I want to see what the result is if we can perform at that level across the board.”

The women’s team will continue conference play Saturday against No. 32 TCU. The match begins at 2 p.m. To follow the match live,click here.

No. 57 BYU- 4 
New Mexico- 3
 
Doubles 
1. McCall Jones/Kristina Doerr (BYU) def. Ola Abou-Zekry/Emma Hayman (UNM) 8-5
2. Elle Carney/Megan Price (BYU) def. Ashley Bonner/A. Villanueva-Forte (UNM) 8-5
3. Maria Sotirchos/Victoria Tessmar (UNM) def. Elizaveta Ezhova/Romina Nedakovic (BYU) 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles 
1. Ola Abou-Zekry (UNM) def. #96 McCall Jones (BYU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5)
2. Mackenzie White (UNM) def. Kristina Doerr (BYU) 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8)
3. Emma Hayman (UNM) def. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
4. Megan Price (BYU) def. Victoria Tessmar (UNM) 6-1, 6-2
5. Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) def. Ashley Bonner (UNM) 6-2, 6-2
6. Elle Carney (BYU) def. A. Villanueva-Forte (UNM) 7-5, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 5, 6, 3, 1, 2

PROVO -- Conference play continues for the No. 53 BYU women’s tennis team this weekend as it travels to Texas to face New Mexico and No. 32 TCU. The Cougars are currently undefeated against Mountain West Conference opponents after sweeping Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force last week.

“Our performance level has been really good,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how we do against some tough opponents.”

BYU will play New Mexico Friday. The Lobos are 5-11 and have yet to win a conference match in two attempts. Their last match ended in a 4-3 loss to No. 29 San Diego State. The Cougars lost to New Mexico by the same score last season.

Saturday will bring a tough TCU team. The 7-9 Horned Frogs split conference matches last week, beating SDSU and losing to No. 71 UNLV. They handed the Cougars a 6-1 loss when the two teams met last season.

“We’re trying to focus on what we need to do,” Manning said. “We want to keep our energy on what we can control and focus on the responsibility on our side of the court.”

A traditionally strong conference presence, TCU’s ranked players come in at No. 11 and No. 84 in the nation. Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska represent the Horned Frogs in doubles, notching the No. 23 spot.

Friday’s match against New Mexico begins at 10 a.m. and play against TCU starts at 2 p.m. Saturday.