Cougars complete fourth sweep of the year in win over Seattle

EUGENE, Ore. – BYU women’s tennis (7-4) bounced back from a tough loss to Oregon, defeating Seattle (0-4), 7-0, at the Student Tennis Center on Saturday.

Leah Heimuli and Emilee Astle teamed up as the No. 2 doubles team and quickly defeated Jade Lancaster and Hannah Grossman, 6-2. Anastasia Abramyan and Helen Jiao had the same result as they quickly raced past Michelle Bader and Hannah Gianan, 6-2. Kara Lin and Elizabeth Tullis completed the doubels sweep, defeating Martina Asciuto and Jillian Rasmussen, 6-4. With the Cougars’ doubles win, Seattle has now lost the doubles point in three of its first four contests.

The Cougars shook up their singles lineup, inserting Qianxin Kong and Tullis in place of Abramyan and Heimuli.

It didn’t take long for them to make an impact, as Tullis defeated Aranza Sanabria in the No. 6 spot, 6-1, 6-1. Kong finished next with a decisive 6-3, 6-1 win over Grossman to give BYU a commanding 3-0 lead. Xenia de Luna defeated Rasmussen, 6-0, 6-1 to clinch the match for the Cougars. With her win, de Luna matched a team best 5-0 record in singles play, tying Madeline Almeida Wanlass.

Lin picked up her fifth win of the year, winning 6-3, 6-2. Emille Astle kept things going BYU’s way as she picked up the Cougars’ fifth point of the match, defeating Alisa Sabotic, 7-5, 6-3, as the No. 2 singles match. The Redhawks’ Jade Lancaster battled back after dropping the first set 6-1 to Jiao, but Jiao was able to complete the sweep outscoring Lancaster 10-8 in a third set tiebreaker.

The Cougars return home for the first time in over a month to take on rival Utah on Wednesday, Mar. 3 at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. The match will begin at 5 p.m. MST and be streamed online. The Utes (5-2) are coming off a 4-0 loss at Denver and are looking for their first road win of the season.

MATCH RESULTS

BYU 7, Seattle 0

Doubles Matches

1. Anastasia Abramyan/Helen Jiao (BYU) def. Michelle Bader/Hannah Gianan (SU), 6-2

2. Leah Heimuli/Emilee Astle (BYU) def. Jade Lancaster/Hannah Grossman (SU), 6-2

3. Kara Lin/Elizabeth Tullis (BYU) def. Martina Asciuto/Jillian Rasmussen (SU), 6-4

Order of finish: (2, 1, 3)

Singles Matches

1. Kara Lin (BYU) def. Hannah Gianan (SU), 6-3, 6-2

2. Emilee Astle (BYU) def. Alisa Sabotic (SU), 7-5, 6-3

3. Helen Jiao (BYU) def. Jade Lancaster (SU), 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (8)

4. Xenia de Luna (BYU) def. Jillian Rasmussen (SU), 6-0, 6-1

5. Qianxin Kong (BYU) def. Hannah Grossman (SU), 6-3, 6-1

6. Elizabeth Tullis (BYU) def. Aranza Sanabria (SU), 6-1, 6-1

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