Cougars finish strong at Cal Nike Invite

BERKELEY, Calif. – All eight BYU women’s tennis players finished with strong performances at the Cal Nike Invitational on Saturday.

"I thought the girls played hard and got some good match experience against tough competition," BYU heach coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. "We learned a lot from each match and will take that into our regional tournament next week."

In the Gold Doubles quarterfinals, No. 1 seeded Samantha Smith and Savannah Ware defeated Fresno State’s Emma Wilson and Juliane Triebe 8-5. Smith and Ware were later upset by Saint Mary’s Pari Kaur and Vanessa Nommenson 8-7(5) in the semifinals.

Kate Cusick and Natella Nabieva fell to No. 2 seeded Danielle McIntyre and Kareena Manji of Saint Mary’s 8-3 in the Gold Doubles quarterfinals.

Duo Mayci Jones and Polina Malykh defeated Sacramento’s Ana Loaiza and Karina Vyrlan 8-6 and Saint Mary’s Clementine Clement and Emma Critser 8-4 in the Blue Doubles consolation bracket.

No. 3 seed Cusick secured a two-set victory over Sacramento’s Sofia Wicker 6-4, 6-0 in the White Singles quarterfinals. She finished the tournament by withdrawing from the semifinal match held on Sunday.

In the White Doubles quarterfinals, Demi Perkinson and Taylah Beckman fell to Nevada’s Adriana Grgelyova and Carlijn Ketting 8-2. In the consolation bracket, the duo defeated San Francisco’s Aisha Sharma and Jiayu Mu 8-1 as well as Santa Clara’s Caraline Patterson and Elizabeth Stevens 8-3.

In Gold Singles consolation bracket, Smith advanced to the semifinals after UC Davis’ Nikita Pradeep couldn’t play due to injury. Beckman also qualified after San Francisco’s Shanna Dos Santos reported injury.

Perkinson defeated San Francisco’s Sarina Chhabra 7-6(1), 5-7, 7-6(5) in the White Singles consolation quarterfinals. Malykh beat California’s Alexis Nelson 6-3, 6-4 in the same bracket.

The Cougars continue their fall season as select players travel to the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 6-8. For complete results from the Cal Nike Invitational, follow this link to the tournament homepage.

Day 1 Recap