Pike Bumps Head in Loss to SDSU

PROVO -- For the sixth time this year, the BYU women's tennis team lost a match 4-3, this time to twenty-eighth ranked San Diego State. The loss drops the Cougars to 7-10 on the season and 2-2 in MWC play.

"We have played in eight matches that have ended 4-3 and we have only won two of them," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "The girls have worked so hard and they give it everything they can. I just wish we could win some of those close matches."

The Aztecs won the doubles point by beating BYU at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Rebecca Pike and Olga Boulytcheva beat Katalina Romero and Patricia Graf 9-8 at No. 3 doubles to claim the lone Cougar win. During the tiebreaker of their match, Pike fell and bumped her head. She was not seriously injured and the Cougar tandem went on to win.

"I think after Rebecca (Pike) got hurt, the team lost its focus a bit," said Manning. "We need to do a little better at concentrating on the matches and taking one point at a time."

In singles, the BYU split with SDSU, but the Cougars came up just one match short. At No. 1 singles, Dominique Reynolds easily beat Lindsey Hedberg 6-1, 6-2. The other two wins for the Cougars came at the last two singles positions. Hadley MacFarlane beat Graf 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 and Nicole Schneider defeated Indra Erichson 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6.

"Losing 4-3 is tough, but it just shows how close we are to getting those victories," said Manning. "We still have some matches left in the season, so we will just keep working hard."

BYU will be back in action on Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. against UNLV in Provo.

No. 28 San Diego State def. No. 56 BYU, 4-3
Doubles
Tornier/Erichsen (SDSU) def. Klempner/Reynolds (BYU) 		  8-5
Karrento/Hedberg (SDSU) def. MacFarlane/Schneider (BYU)	 8-6
Pike/Boulytcheva (BYU) def. Romero/Graf (SDSU)			        9-8
Singles
Silvia Tornier (SDSU) def. Leeza Klempner (BYU)			       7-6, 6-3
Dominique Reynolds (BYU) def. Lindsey Hedberg (SDSU)		   6-1, 6-2
Katalina Romero (SDSU) def. Olga Boulytcheva (BYU)		     6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Katja Karrento (SDSU) def. Rebecca Pike (BYU)			         7-6, 7-6
Hadley MacFarlane (BYU) def. Patricia Graf (SDSU)		      6-1, 6-1
Nicole Schneider (BYU) def. Indra Erichson (SDSU)		      6-3, 6-3