Impressive Win Over No. 5 USC in National Indoor Championship

MADISON -- The BYU women's tennis team continued its national appearance at the USTA/ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship today as they blasted past the No. 5 Trojans of Southern California 6-1. The win moves the Cougars to the second round of consolation.

The Cougars got off to an early start by sweeping the Trojans in all three doubles matches. Leading BYU to the doubles point was Senior Barbora Zahnova and teammate Hadley Macfarlane, who blasted past USC's top seeded duo Mangnani and Vermeulen 8-2.

Also contributing to the early doubles point was Sofia Holden and Lauren Jones and teammates Rebecca Pike and Nicole Schneider posting match scores of 8-3 and 8-5.

"We played really well today in doubles," head coach Craig Manning said. "We've worked on our execution lately and I felt like we executed a lot better today."

Zahnova posted a key win over Carine Vermeulen of USC 7-5, 6-1 to clinch the win for the Cougars. Also adding big wins in singles for BYU were Olga Boulytcheva, Jones, Macfarlane and Pike. Each of the matches was over in two straight sets.

The only lost single match for the Cougars was Sofia Holden who fell to Anca Anastasio 6-4, 7-5. Holden nearly had the second set, but couldn't hold on.

"We are really happy about this win," Manning said. "This was huge for us today. It really boosted the girls confidence."

Continuing its national play the BYU women's team will face William and Mary Saturday at 9 a.m. CT.

Doubles

1. Zahnova/MacFarlane (BYU) def. Mangnani/Vermeulen (USC) 8-2

2. Jones/Holden (BYU) def. Matias/Esmero (USC) 8-3

3. Pike/Nicole Schneider (BYU) def. Bayani/Anastasio (USC) 8-5

BYU wins doubles point

Singles

1. Barbora Zahnova (BYU) def. Carine Vermeulen (USC) 7-5, 6-1*

2. Anca Anastasio (USC) def. Sofia Holden (BYU) 6-4, 7-5

3. Lauren Jones (BYU) def. Dianne Matias (USC) 6-2, 6-3

4. Olga Bulycheva (BYU) def. Bernadette Bayani (USC) 6-1, 6-4

5. Rebecca Pike (BYU) def. Melissa Esmero (USC) 6-3, 6-2

6. Hadley MacFarlane (BYU) def. Erica Sauer (USC) 6-0, 6-4

* - clinched match