No. 71 Cougars fall in heartbreaker, 4-3, to No. 16 Huskies

PROVO, Utah – No. 71 BYU women's tennis fell to No. 16 Washington 4-3 on Thursday afternoon in a heartbreaker. The Cougars fell to 10-7 on the season and 6-2 at home.

Sophomore Bobo Huang defeated No. 97 Hikaru Sato for her 12th singles victory of the season. 

Doubles

1. Astle/Dunyon (BYU) def. Sato/Sakar 7-5
2. Huang/Li (BYU) def. Olsen/Kerr 6-3
3. Jiao/Wheatley (BYU) UF. Matusda/Fortin 6-6

      Order of finish: 2, 1

Huang and Li, at No. 2 doubles, were tied 1-1 with Olsen and Kerr before the duo took a two set lead, 4-2, before winning the match. 

Astle and Dunyon, at No. 1 doubles, jumped out to a 2-0 lead and later led 4-2 before the Huskies duo tied the match at 5-all. Astle and Dunyon would respond and take the next two points to clinch the doubles point for the Cougars. 

Jiao and Wheatley, at No. 3 doubles, fell down 2-0 early, and tied things up at 4-4, before taking a 5-4 lead. Matusda and Fortin tied the score up at 5-5 before the two teams were tied again at 6-6 before the match was left unfinished.

Singles

1. Bobo Huang (BYU) def. No. 97 Hikaru Sato 6-3, 7-6 (9-7)
2. Sarah Fortin (UW) def. Emilee Astle 6-0, 6-4
3. Jennifer Kerr (UW) def. Tina Li 7-6 (10-8), 6-4
4. Astrid Olsen (UW) def. Jacque Dunyon 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
5. Helen Jiao (BYU) def. Melissa Sakar 6-4, 6-2
6. Erika Matusda (UW) def. Emmie Moore 6-0, 6-3

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

Astle, at No. 2, fell down 3-0 in the first set and eventually lost the set 6-0. In the second set, Astle and Fortin were tied at 2-2 before Fortin went on to win the set and the match. 

Dunyon, at No. 4, trailed 3-1 early but stormed back taking a 4-3 lead and eventually winning the first set 6-3. Olsen led Dunyon 4-1 in the second set and later won 6-1. In the third set, Dunyon trailed 4-1 and was eventually defeated by Olsen. 

Li, at No. 3, took a 3-2 lead before Kerr later tied the score up at 5-5 and then 6-6 with Kerr winning the tiebreak 10-8. In the second set, the two were tied at 2-2 and then 4-4 before Kerr won the won final two points to win the match. 

Huang, at No. 1, was tied with Sato 3-3 before winning the next three points to win the opening set, 6-3. After falling down 3-0 in the second set, Huang stormed back to take the next four points to make it 4-3. The set was eventually tied at 6-all before Huang defeated Sato in the tiebreak, 9-7. 

Jiao, at No. 5, took a 2-1 lead in the first set but Sakar tied the score at 4-4. Later, two-straight wins for Jiao helped lift her to a first set victory 6-4. In the second set, Jiao led 4-1 before eventually winning the match. 

Moore, at no. 6, trailed 4-0 and fell in the first set 6-0. In the second set, Moore led 3-2 but four straight points from Matusda clinched the match for the Huskies. 

The Cougars return to action next week, Saturday, April. 15 against Pepperdine for its final home match of the season. First serve is set for 12:00 p.m. MDT.