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PROVO -- The No. 58 BYU women’s tennis team closed out home play with a 5-2 win over No. 57 Utah on Saturday. With the win the Cougars improve to 12-7 on the season and 5-1 against Mountain West Conference opponents.

Following the match BYU was presented with the women’s tennis Deseret First Duel Trophy.

“There’s always added tension when we’re playing Utah,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “But the players handled it well and did a great job.”

Utah took the first doubles match, 8-1, on court three, but BYU responded with a decisive 8-4 win on court one. The all-important doubles point came down to Elle Carney and Megan Price at the No. 2 position. The match went back-and-forth until the Australian duo pulled away to clinch the 8-6 victory and the point.

“We performed well in doubles,” Manning said. “One and two doubles were outstanding.”

The Cougars continued to show their strength with solid performances by McCall Jones and Kristina Doerr at the No. 1 and No. 2 position respectively. The two handily defeated their Ute opponents to bring BYU’s lead to 3-0.

Chie Hayasaka won in three sets to clinch the match for BYU. At the same time, Utah’s Evgenia Kryuchkova earned the first point for the Utes after winning in straight sets on court five. Leigh Walsh notched another victory for Utah at the No. 3 position. Carney wrapped things up for BYU with a third-set tiebreak win to finish the match 5-2.

“We’re really starting to play well at the most important time of the season,” Manning said.

BYU resumes conference play next week against No. 42 San Diego State and No. 48 UNLV in Las Vegas.

Match Results
No. 58 BYU-5 
No. 57 Utah-2 
Doubles
1. Doerr/Jones (BYU) def. Maughan/Monson (UTAH) 8-4
2. Carney/Price (BYU) def. Johnson/Putilina (UTAH) 8-6
3. Kryuchkova/Walsh (UTAH) def. Ezhova/Nedakovic (BYU) 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. M. Jones (BYU) def. A. Putilina (UTAH) 6-1, 6-2
2. K. Doerr (BYU) def. E. Monson (UTAH) 6-2, 6-2
3. L. Walsh (UTAH) def. M. Price (BYU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
4. C. Hayasaka (BYU) def. L. Johnson (UTAH) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. E. Kryuchkova (UTAH) def. R. Nedakovic (BYU) 6-1, 6-3
6. E. Carney (BYU) def. A. Maughan (UTAH)4-6, 6-4, 10-0
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6

PROVO -- In its last home match of the season, the No. 58 BYU women’s team takes on in-state rival No. 57 Utah at home Saturday. The Cougars will look to rebound from last week’s 4-3 loss to No. 28 TCU, their only conference defeat this season.

The Utes come to Provo with a 3-2 record against Mountain West opponents so far. They are 8-9 on the season after dropping a 5-2 decision to No. 34 Denver Wednesday, which marked their third consecutive loss.

Utah won two matches against BYU last season, a 6-1 victory during the regular season and a 4-0 win to knock the Cougars out of the conference championship. During the fall season, BYU played Ute opponents at the BYU Invitational with mixed results.

The match begins at noon Saturday at the BYU Outdoor Courts, weather permitting. The team will provide spectators with pizza and prizes. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.