Cougars Fight Hard, Lose to Bulldogs

PROVO -- Coming off a tough loss to No. 21 South Carolina, the No. 35 BYU women's tennis team played well but could not overcome an impressive No. 5 Georgia team, losing 7-0. BYU (1-2, 1-0) only won one set throughout the day, but head coach Craig Manning felt his team was competitive and played well.

"It actually was a lot closer than the score made it look," Manning said. "We played well and I was pleased with our performance."

Junior Lu Oswald played the closest match of the day with Tina Hojnik of Georgia at the No. 3 singles position. Oswald took the first set, but could not hold on and lost the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Brooke Beverley suffered a tough loss to Agata Cirioch at the No. 1 spot, 6-1, 6-1, but Manning thinks Beverley will be just fine.

"The girl Brooke played (Cioroch) was unbelievable," Manning said. "She's just a great player."

The Bulldogs took the doubles point by winning all three matches. The Cougars failed to win a singles match as well, but had chances in most of the matches. Even though BYU lost both matches on the southern road trip, the losses should prove to be valuable experience later in the season.

"I think we learned some things about how we need to improve," Manning said. "Playing tough competition on their court is always hard, but I think it really helped us out."

The Cougars will hit the road again next week, playing Wiconsin and Northwestern on Friday and Saturday. BYU will play six road matches in February, before a big homestand of seven matches in 18 days in March.

FINAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

No. 1 Cioroch/Grey (GA) def. Beverley/Ferrell (BYU) 8-2

No. 2 Hojnik/Verban (GA) def. Khoudoiarova/Reynolds (BYU) 8-0

No. 3 Nguyen/Smith (GA) def. Oswald/Schneider (BYU) 8-5

SINGLES

No. 1 Agata Cioroch (GA) def. Brooke Beverley (BYU) 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 Anne Nguyen (GA) def. Lindsay Ferrell (BYU) 7-5, 6-3

No. 3 Tina Hojnik (GA) def. Lu Oswald (BYU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

No. 4 Lori Grey (GA) def. Dominique Reynolds (BYU) 6-2, 6-3

No. 5 Alexandra Smith (GA) def. Elizaveta Khoudoiarova (BYU) 6-4, 6-1

No. 6 Jeanette Mattsson (GA) def. Nicole Schneider (BYU) 6-3, 6-0