Cougars Hold Air Force Down, 6-1

AIR FORCE ACADEMY -- BYU's No. 39-ranked women's tennis team extended its Mountain West Conference winning streak to three matches, defeating the Air Force Academy 6-1 on Thursday. With the win the Cougars improve to 11-8 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

Bad weather forced the match indoors, which presented it's own problems for BYU.

"It was uncomfortably hot inside," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "Those were hard conditions to play in. It got to the point where some of the girls were feeling ill, but they dealt with the circumstances as well as they could and got through the match."

With several changes in the lineup, BYU claimed the doubles point after wins on the second and third courts. Jocelyn Jensen and Anastasia Surkova defeated Lauren Wilson and Erika Shortridge 8-2 and were followed by an 8-3 win by Elle Carney and Chie Hayasaka. Dolly Chang and Kristina Doerr dropped a close 8-7(2) match while playing at the BYU's No. 1 position for the first time this season.

Jennifer Miccoli was held out of doubles play, while Surkova was held out of singles. With both seniors requiring some much-needed rest, Manning saw this as an opportunity to give other players more experience.

"It was nice to give [Miccoli and Surkova] some rest and hold them out," he said. "We tried to give the girls playing at the five and six positions some competitive matches."

No. 87 Doerr quickly put the Cougars up 2-0 by defeating Christine Abayan 6-3, 6-4. Back-to-back wins by Hayasaka and Chang at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively, solidified BYU's victory.

With the result of the match already decided, the Cougars continued to dominate, as Elizaveta Ezhova downed Samantha Sarkis in straight sets (6-4, 6-3), followed by Carney's 6-2, 6-3 win over Katrina Eromin. The Cougars only singles loss came at the No. 6 position, when the Falcons' Christen Monreal handed Jensen a 6-2, 6-2 loss. With her win, Monreal claimed AFA's first singles win against BYU since the 2002 season.

The Cougars will resume conference play tomorrow when they take on Colorado State at 12 p.m. MT.

RESULTS
No. 47 BYU 6, Air Force 1
Thursday, April 3, 2008
U.S. Air Force Academy
 
Singles
1. Kristina Doerr (BYU) def. Christine Abayan, 6-3, 6-4
2. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) def. Lauren Wilson, 6-2, 6-4
3. Dolly Chang (BYU) def. Meghan Kiser, 6-4, 6-0
4. Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) def. Samantha Sarkis, 6-4, 6-3
5. Elle Carney (BYU) def. Katrina Eromin, 6-2, 6-3
6. Christen Monreal (AF) def. Jocelyn Jensen, 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
 
Doubles
1. Abayan/Erlyn Rudico (AFA) def. Doerr/Chang, 8-7(2)
2. Jensen/Anastasia Surkova (BYU) def. Wilson/Erika Shortridge, 8-2
3. Hayasaka/Carney (BYU) def. Kiser/Sarkis, 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1