BYU women's tennis falls to No. 8 Pepperdine 1-4 in final home match

PROVO, Utah – Sophomore Anastasia Abramyan claimed BYU’s lone singles victory against a ranked opponent in the BYU women’s tennis 1-4 match against West Coast Conference opponent and No. 8 ranked Pepperdine, Saturday.

Abramyan upset Pepperdine’s No. 84 ranked Adrijana Lekaj in a dominating 6-0, 7-5 No. 2 singles matchup. With the loss to Pepperdine, the Cougars are 10-9 overall and 3-4 in WCC action.

To begin the match, the Waves took the advantage, 1-0, winning two doubles matches in a row. BYU’s Kate Cusick and Abramyan were able to tally a set against Pepperdine’s No. 31 Jessica Failla and Anastasia Iamachkine, but ultimately lost 1-6 in the No. 1 position. The Cougars’ Taylah Beckman and Samantha Smith then fell 0-6 to the Waves’ Dzina Milovanovic and Adrijana Lekaj in No. 3 doubles.

Pepperdine carried momentum into singles, tallying two more victories. BYU’s Cusick fought to take two games in No. 1 singles against No. 43 Lahey but fell 1-6, 1-6. The Cougars’ Almeida put up a good fight in her first set against Milovanovic, but was downed 4-6, 0-6 in No. 4.

To clinch the match, BYU’s Beckman lost 2-6, 4-6 to opponent Kuczer at No. 5 singles. Malykh and Smith left matches unfinished at the No. 3 and No. 6 positions.

The Cougars travel to California for their final WCC games of the year next weekend. They’ll kick off the weekend on Friday, April 19 at Pacific for a 12 p.m. PDT match at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.

Doubles

1. #31 Jessica Failla/Anastasia Iamachkine (PEPP) def. Anastasia Abramyan/Kate Cusick (BYU) 6-1
2. Madeline Almeida/Polina Malykh (BYU) vs. Ashley Lahey/Daria Kuczer (PEPP) 3-3, unfinished
3. Dzina Milovanovic/Adrijana Lekaj (PEPP) def. Taylah Beckman/Samantha Smith (BYU) 6-0

Order of finish: 3,1

Singles

1. #43 Ashley Lahey (PEPP) def. Kate Cusick (BYU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Anastasia Abramyan (BYU) def. #84 Adrijana Lekaj (PEPP) 6-0, 7-5
3. Polina Malykh (BYU) vs. #57 Jessica, Failla (PEPP) 6-3, 3-6, 4-4, unfinished
4. Dzina Milovanovic (PEPP) def. Madeline Almeida (BYU) 6-4, 6-0
5. Daria Kuczer (PEPP) def. Taylah Beckman (BYU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Samantha Smith (BYU) vs. Anastasia Iamachkine (PEPP) 0-6, 2-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 5