No. 54 Cougars lose in heartbreaking fashion at home

PROVO, Utah – Freshman Brittanie Eraso recorded her first win in singles, but the No. 54 BYU women’s tennis team fell in heartbreaking fashion to Washington State at home, Thursday.

“Today was a disappointing match,” BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “We underperformed in doubles and that put us in a hole in singles that was difficult to climb out of. We had our chances in singles but couldn’t capitalize.”

The WSU Cougars got on the board first in doubles with two quick victories, winning at No. 1 and 2 doubles 6-1 and 6-2, respectively.

Sophomore Savannah Ware evened the score as the first player off the court in singles. Ware recorded an efficient win at No. 3 singles, beating Lize Leenknecht 6-0, 6-2. WSU jumped back into the lead shortly after when Donika Bashota beat Erika Valimaki 6-1, 6-0. Senior Morgan Anderson-Littlewood battled to a 6-4, 7-5, straight-set victory over Victoria Matejevic to tie the match at two. WSU surged back into the lead after a win at No. 1 singles. Elizaveta Luzina outplayed Meghan Sheehan-Dizon 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 in the matchup.

With Washington State needing to only win one more to take the match, all eyes were on the last two matchups. Eraso dropped the first set and fell behind 4-1 in the second against Holly Monahan but charged back to take the second and third set, winning the match 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 and evening the overall match score at three.

The final matchup of the day, Toby MIclat against Maria Biryukova, went into a third set tiebreaker to determine the winner of No. 2 singles, and the whole match. Biryukova pulled it out winning the three-set match 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), giving Washington State Cougars the 4-3 match victory.

"We are going to work hard tomorrow and come out stronger on Saturday," Jones-Spencer said.

BYU is back on the courts Saturday at noon to face off against league foe, No. 14 Pepperdine. Live stats will be available through the women’s schedule page.