DALLAS – The BYU women’s tennis team wrapped up its trip to Texas with a 4-3 win over No. 75 Southern Methodist University Saturday.

“I think we ended the trip really well,” said BYU coach Lauren Jones-Spencer. “We had a few tough matches but we turned it around today. The girls had a good attitude and we stayed positive and trusted our game. SMU is a good team and it’s a great win for us.”

The Cougars (3-7) snapped a five-match losing streak with the win over the Mustangs (1-7). The victory was BYU’s first over a ranked team this season.

The Cougars jumped out early, taking the doubles point with wins on courts 1 and 2. Playing together for the first time this spring, senior Megan Price and sophomore Desiree Tran teamed up at the No. 1 doubles position to defeat Edyta Cieplucha and Heather Steinbauer, 8-2. Freshmen Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Anderson took an 8-4 decision over Ashley Turpin and Elena Fayner on Court 2 to capture the doubles point for BYU.

In singles, SMU’s No. 60 Cieplucha topped Tran at the No. 1 singles position, 6-1, 6-1. BYU answered with its own singles win on Court 5, where Paul held Perri Anderson to three games, taking the match, 6-2, 6-1.

In another back-and-forth exchange, the Mustangs took a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Waldron on Court 6 before BYU’s Sheehan-Dizon defeated Turpin, 6-1, 6-3.

Playing at the No. 2 singles position, Anderson secured the match for the Cougars with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Fayner. 

BYU continues its matches on the road in Boise when it takes on University of Texas, Arlington on March 9 and Boise State on March 10. 

BYU – 4
No. 75 SMU – 3

Singles competition
1. No. 60 Edyta Cieplucha (SMU) def. Desiree Tran (BYU), 6-1, 6-1
2. Morgan Anderson (BYU) def. Elena Fayner (SMU), 6-3, 6-3
3. Heather Steinbauer (SMU) def. Megan Price (BYU), 7-5, 6-4
4. Meghan Sheehan-Dizon (BYU) def. Ashley Turpin (SMU), 6-1, 6-3
5. Aubrey Paul (BYU) def. Perri Anderson (SMU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Kris Roberts (SMU) def. Lisa Waldron (BYU), 6-3, 6-1
 

Doubles
1. M. Price/D. Tran (BYU) def. E. Cieplucha/H. Steinbauer (SMU), 8-2
2. M. Sheehan-Dizon/M. Anderson (BYU) def. A. Turpin/E. Fayner (SMU), 8-4
3. K. Roberts/P. Anderson (SMU) def. A. Paul/L. Waldron (BYU), 9-8(3)
 

Match Notes
BYU (3-7)
SMU (1-7); National ranking #75
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 3)

PROVO, Utah – The BYU women’s tennis team is looking to bounce back after a tough weekend in Washington, traveling to Texas to take on Texas A&M, Rice University and Southern Methodist University.

The Cougars (2-5) will play No. 23 Texas A&M Thursday at 6 p.m. CST at the Georgy P. Mitchell Tennis Center for their third consecutive road match. BYU then heads to No. 47 Rice University Friday for an 11 a.m. match start. Rounding out the weekend, the Cougars challenge No. 75 SMU Saturday at 3 p.m. in Dallas.  

Last weekend, BYU suffered tough losses, falling 7-0 to Washington State and 4-3 to Idaho.

Playing at the No. 4 singles position, freshman Meghan Sheehan-Dizon leads the Cougars in singles, with a 5-2 record this spring. Sheehan-Dizon and senior Megan Price team up at the No. 1 doubles position and have a team-leading 5-2 record in dual doubles matches.

No. 23 Texas A&M is led by No. 4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar. Sanchez-Quintanar, who is 7-0 in dual matches, is joined in the singles rankings by teammates Wen Sun and Nazari Urbina, who are No. 86 and No. 114, respectively. The Aggies (6-1) are riding a five-match winning streak.

No. 47 Rice University (8-2) has one ranked singles player in No. 59 Natalie Beazant and a ranked doubles duo in No. 26 Dominique Harmath and Natalie Beazant. Rice is coming off a 5-2 win over Oklahoma. BYU and Rice last met in March 2007, when the Cougars topped the Owls, 7-0.

No. 75 SMU (1-6) recorded its first win of the season last weekend, taking a 4-3 decision over No. 40 Princeton. The Mustangs are represented in the ITA national rankings by No. 60 Edyta Cieplucha. The last meeting between the two teams came in Feb. 2010, when the Cougars fell 4-1.

BYU returns home March 19 when it takes on San Diego.