Cougar women sweep singles to defeat Boise State 4-1

BOISE, Idaho ­­– The BYU women’s tennis team swept singles play to defeat Boise State 4-1 Friday and earn its third straight win in a row without dropping a singles match.

“Boise State is a tough team,” BYU head coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “They came out aggressive in doubles and outplayed us on courts No. 1 and 2. We did a great job letting the doubles point go when we went into singles. We stayed positive and outplayed them in singles. It was a great road win for us.”

In No. 2 doubles, sophomore Kate Cusick and freshman Anastasia Abramyan went up against Wilhelmina Palmer and Nancy Menjivar of Boise State and fell 6-2.

Junior Taylah Beckman and sophomore Samantha Smith responded in No. 3 doubles to defeat Boise State’s Vanessa Timm and Hanna Kantenwein, 6-1 to even doubles to a game a piece. However, the Bronco’s Wiktoria Nosek and Anja Dokic took No. 1 doubles, 6-3 against senior Mayci Jones and sophomore Polina Malykh to earn the doubles point.

Malykh entered Friday’s matches undefeated in singles play and competed against Menjivar in No. 5 singles. She kept her singles record perfect at 8-0 with a 6-3, 6-0 win and tied the score at 1-1.

After not competing last weekend in singles play due to injury, Cusick took on Nosek in No. 4 singles. The first and second set were neck and neck as the two traded shots, but Cusick came out on top with a big 7-5, 6-4 win to give BYU a 2-1 lead.

In No. 2 singles, Abramyan kept BYU's momentum going in her match against Dokic. It was a battle throughout the match, but Abramyan prevailed to earn the 6-4, 6-4 victory and a commanding 3-1 Cougar lead.

Freshman Hermehr Kaur closed out the match for BYU at No. 6 singles against Timm. After losing the first set, Kaur bounced back in the next two sets to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and cap off the sweep in singles and the 4-1 victory.

The Cougars will travel again this coming week to Logan to compete against in-state rival Utah State on Thursday, March 22 at 11:00 a.m. MT.

BYU will return home to welcome Fresno State Saturday, March 24 at 12:00 p.m. at the Indoor Tennis Courts. Attendance is free and complementary pizza is provided to all spectators. Live stats and video for both matches can be found on BYU’s online schedule.

Box Score:

Doubles Results:

1.  Wiktoria Nosek/Anja Dokic def. Mayci Jones/Polina Malykh 6-3

2.  Wilhelmina Palmer/Nancy Menjivar def. Anastasia Abramyan/Madeline Almeida 6-2

3. Taylah Beckman/Samantha Smith def. Vanessa Timm and Hanna Kantenwein 6-1

Singles Results:

1. Mayci Jones vs Wilhelmina Palmer DNF

2. Anastasia Abramyan vs Anja Dokic 6-4, 6-4

3. Madeline Almeida vs Hanna Kantenwein DNF

4. Kate Cusick def. Wiktoria Nosek , 7-5, 6-4

5. Polina Malykh def. Nancy Menjivar 6-3, 6-0

6. Hermehr Kaur def. Vanessa Timm 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

Match Notes:

Order of finish: doubles (2, 3, 1) singles (5, 4, 2, 6)

BYU: 8-4

BSU: 6-6