Cougars drop Deseret First Duel at home

PROVO, Utah – No. 60 BYU women’s tennis fell at home 4-3 against No. 59 Utah in the Deseret First Duel Wednesday in Provo.

"We started strong winning the doubles point but we weren't mentally tough enough in a few matches today," BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "Savannah has been solid for us all season and really stepped up today. Erica also played well today."

The Cougars (8-11, 3-4) got on the board first by capturing the doubles point. The Utes won at No. 1 singles to open play but BYU stormed back to take the next two and the doubles point. Morgan Anderson-Littlewood and Meghan Sheehan-Dizon won at No. 3 doubles 6-2 then Nicolette Tran and Savannah Ware secured a 7-5 victory at No. 2. Ware and Tran trailed 4-3 before powering back to clinch the point.

Utah (9-11) regained some momentum in singles when they tied the match up at one after No. 1 singles. Tereza Bekerova beat Sheehan-Dizon 6-1, 6-2 for the Utes first point. Ware continued her strong play with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Margo Pletcher at No. 4 to give BYU the 2-1 lead.

Utah went on to take the next three matchups in three sets each. Sarah Richter pulled out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Tran while Jena Cheng also won the first and third sets to beat Toby Miclat 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Luisa de Rosa clinched the match for the Utes with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Anderson-Littlewood at No. 5 singles. Erica Valimaki gave the Cougars their third point with a 7-5, 2-1 win at No. 6 singles.

BYU returns to the courts Friday when it hosts Gonzaga in its final home match of the season. The match will begin at 12 p.m. MDT and live stats are available through the schedule page.