PROVO, Utah – Freshman BYU tennis player Mackenna Maddox advanced to the semifinals of the Cal Nike Invitational in Berekely, Calif., on Saturday and two other Cougars from the women's tennis team earned their way to the quarterfinals.

“We are all headed in the right direction but have room to improve,” head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “Mackenna had a great weekend and played with a lot of heart.”

Maddox won her first match of the tournament by beating Blair Reed from San Francisco, 6-2, 6-0. Her next victory came over Nevada’s Sheila Smiley, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, Maddox squeaked her way past Bianca Modoc from Fresno State, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Junior Desiree Tran and sophomore Meghan Sheehan-Dizon played together in the doubles round and beat their first opponents, Katharina Knoebl and Sophil Lohscheidt from Sacramento, 8-4. The pair fell in the quarterfinal round to Cal’s Annett Schutting and Annie Goransson, 8-4.

Final results from the tournament can be found here.

The two BYU seniors travelled to Boise, Idaho to compete in the Jack Taylor Classic. Aubrey Paul started off strong by topping Seattle’s Lindsey Newman, 6-2, 6-3 but lost the next round to Morgan Basil from Boise State, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Andie Young also won her first match of the tournament, 6-1, 6-0, over Weber State’s Carly Lloyd. After falling 6-2, 6-2 to Montana’s Mackenzie Rozell in the next round, Young defeated Utah State’s Ashley Stuhlmann in the conosolation bracket, 6-0, 6-3.

Details on the tournament can be found here.

The Cougars will spend the next week preparing for Regionals which begins Oct. 10.

PROVO, Utah – After playing in its first tournament of the season, the BYU women’s tennis team will split up to travel to two different tournaments, the Cal Invitational and the Jack Taylor Classic on Sept. 28.

“Our goal is to play high percentage tennis, playing smart in points,” head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “We’re not in tip-top condition because we’re just starting out, so it’s important to stay in the point longer, to work the point and not go for too big of a shot too soon. I think that’s the biggest thing we did wrong last week, we got anxious and tried to go for shots that weren’t smart.”

Junior Desiree Tran, sophomores Morgan Anderson and Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and freshman Mackenna Maddox will travel to the Cal Invitational, in Berkeley, Calif. The tournament starts Friday at 8:30 a.m. MDT. The Cougars competition will be scattered among 12 other western schools.

Last week, Tran and Sheehan-Dizon earned their way to the doubles finals at the BYU Invitational.

The two seniors on the team, Andie Young and Aubrey Paul, will participate at the Jack Taylor Classic in Boise, Idaho. The tournament starts at 8 a.m. PDT and will feature around 75 other athletes from 10 different schools.

The women will represent BYU but will compete on an individual basis.