Cougars fight hard at California tournament

BERKELEY, CA— The BYU women’s tennis team had some good matches as they competed at the Cal Nike Invitational in Berkeley, California, this weekend.

"On an outcome standpoint, we didn't perform our best, but we're headed in the right direction," said head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer. "We played a lot of tennis this weekend. The girls played better tennis as the tournament progressed and we are coming home with more confidence about where we are and where we need to be."

In the Blue singles bracket, senior Nicolette Poulsen was able to win her first match against Santa Clara’s Chelbey Cook 6-3, 6-4 but ended up losing out in the Round of 16 to California’s Denise Starr 6-1, 6-3. Both Savannah Ware and Toby Miclat lost their first round matches in this bracket as well.

Savannah Ware made it to the semifinals in the consolation bracket, moving forward in both rounds due to injured opponents. She woud defeat Arizona State's Alex Osborne 6-4, 6-0 in the end, but would withdraw from the rest of the bracket due to Sunday play.

BYU's Erica Valimaki competed in singles play in the Gold bracket where she lost her first round match against Sacramento’s Andie Mouzes 3-6, 4-6. She also lost in the consolation bracket.

Freshman Taylah Beckman defeated Nevada’s Monika Magusiak 6-2, 6-4, but lost in the next round to Santa Barbara’s Jaimee Gilbertson 1-6, 2-6.

In the White singles bracket, Demi Daniels lost in the first round to Sacramento State’s Saskia Angerer 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 and teammate Brittanie Eraso also lost in the first round to UC Davis’s Kelsie Bryant 5-7, 1-6. Both would play in the consolation bracket Saturday. Eraso would win her match in two, and Daniels would lose her match in three sets.

On the doubles side, Poulsen and Ware teamed up to win their first round match in the Blue doubles bracket match Friday. The duo defeated Saint Mary’s Jana McCord and Parminder Kaur 8-6. They played Arizona State’s Alex Osborne and Ebony Pahono in the quarterfinal round of the bracket on Saturday and lost the match 1-8.

Fellow teammates Beckman and Miclat lost in the first round of the Blue doubles bracket 4-8 to Sacramento State’s Alina Soltanci and Deimante Bulatovaite. They faced Arizona State in the consolation bracket and lost 4-8.

Eraso and Daniels also lost their first round match against Cal’s Audrey Meyer and Stephanie Lin in doubles of the Gold bracket. They advanced to the semifinals of the consolation bracket due to injuries to players from Santa Clara, where they lost 1-8.

Valimaki and her partner Delaney Phanco (Nevada) lost in the quarterfinals of the White doubles bracket against Cal Poly’s Abigail and Bryn’s Bacharach. They would play the duo of Jessie Lee and LaniRae Green and lose 3-8.

The Cougars will continue their fall season as select players travel to the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in California on October 6. For complete results for this tournament, visit http://www.tennisinformation.com/tourny/5/2/3/6/6/3/2/draws.asp.