Notre Dame Narrowly Defeats Cougars

NOTRE DAME -- The No. 56 BYU women's tennis team dropped a close 4-3 match to No. 19 Notre Dame on Tuesday. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 2-5 on the season.

"We played well today at most of our positions," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "We're doing the right things."

To begin the match, two early wins by the Irish helped clinch the doubles point. Brooke Buck and Kelcy Tefft, the No. 3 ranked pair in the country, edged out BYU's Anastasia Surkova and Jennifer Miccoli, 8-5. Dolly Chang and Kristina Doerr concluded doubles play by narrowly defeating Notre Dame's Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael (8-7).

The Irish continued to succeed after moving into singles play, winning the first two matches against Elle Carney and Elizaveta Ezhova at the No. 6 and No. 3 position, respectively. Surkova easily defeated No. 62 Cosmina Ciobanu (6-2, 6-3), giving the Cougars' their first point of the night.

To conclude the match, both Doerr and Chang maintained their perfect records on the night, winning their respective singles contests against two ranked Notre Dame opponents.

"We're getting better with every match," said Manning. "As we continue on in the season, it's important to remember that we're a young team, and we can't feel sorry for ourselves even if the results aren't going our way. We'll keep working hard and things will start going our way."

Up next the Cougars will return home to face Boise State on Feb. 14.

RESULTS
No. 19 University of Notre Dame - 4
No. 56 Brigham Young University - 3
February 5, 2008
Singles
1. Anastasia Surkova (BYU) def. #62 Cosmina Ciobanu (ND) 6-2, 6-3
2. Kristina Doerr (BYU) def. #64 Brook Buck (ND) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
3. Kelcy Tefft (ND) def. Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
4. #88 Colleen Rielley (ND) def. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7)
5. Dolly Chang (BYU) def. #82 Katie Potts (ND) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-66)
6. #89 Kali Krisik (ND) def. Elle Carney (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
1. #3 Brook Buck/Kelcy Tefft (ND) def. Anastasia Surkova/Jennifer Miccoli (BYU) 8-5
2. Dolly Chang/Kristina Doerr (BYU) def. Kali Krisik/Kristen Rafael (ND) 8-7 (7-3)
3. Cosmina Ciobanu/Colleen Rielley (ND) def. Elizaveta Ezhova/Elle Carney (BYU) 8-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,3,1,4,2,5)