Cougars Fall to Fighting Irish on the Road

SOUTH BEND -- The No. 51 BYU women's tennis team lost a hard-fought match to No. 18 Notre Dame 5-2 Monday afternoon in South Bend, Ind. The Cougars (2-5, 1-0) were coming off a great victory over Purdue on Saturday, but couldn't quite pull off the upset on the road.

"We played real well today," head coach Craig Manning said. "It was just a really good team effort by everybody."

BYU's two points in the match came at the No. 3 and No. 5 singles positions. Co-captain Lu Oswald played a strong match, winning in straight sets over Lindsey Green, 6-4, 6-3. Elizaveta Khoudoiarova continued her recent success at the No. 5 spot, rallying to knock off Katie Cuhna, 4-6, 7-6, 10-6. Khoudoiarova saved match points before finally winning the match and pushing her singles mark this year to 5-2.

"Liza didn't start out so good, but she kept on battling away and battling away until she finally won the match," Manning said.

Notre Dame may have won all three doubles matches, but the Cougars played well and had their chances. Brooke Beverley and Dominique Reynolds lost 8-6 at No. 1 and Lindsay Ferrell and Lu Oswald lost in a tiebreaker at No. 2.

"We had some real good chances to win in doubles," Manning said. "Pretty much every match was really tight."

BYU's road trip does not get any easier, with the Cougars playing at No. 8 Tennessee Wednesday. After the Cougars play the Volunteers, BYU will travel and play at No. 36 Mississippi Friday. Manning is impressed with how well his team has played considering the stiff competition on the road.

"They're showing a lot of heart competing with these top schools and hanging in there," Manning said. "Every time they're getting better."

FINAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

No. 1 Green/Varnum (ND) def. Beverley/Reynolds (BYU) 8-6

No. 2 Cunha/Vaughan (ND) def. Ferrell/Oswald (BYU) 9-8 (7-5)

No. 3 Connelly/Salas (ND) def. Khoudoiarova/Schneider (BYU) 6-1, 6-0

SINGLES

No. 1 Becky Varnum (ND) def. Lindsay Ferrell (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

No. 2 Nina Vaughan (ND) def. Brooke Beverley (BYU) 6-4, 7-5

No. 3 Lu Oswald (BYU) def. Lindsey Green (ND) 6-4, 6-3

No. 4 Alicia Salas (ND) def. Dominique Reynolds (BYU) 6-3, 6-2

No. 5 Elizaveta Khoudoiarova (BYU) def. Katie Cunha (ND) 4-6, 7-6, 10-6

No. 6 Sarah Jane Connelly (ND) def. Nicole Schneider (BYU) 6-1, 6-0