Cougar Effort Not Enough Against Notre Dame

PROVO -- A great effort by the No. 42 BYU women’s tennis team could not earn the upset against No. 14 Notre Dame Saturday. The Cougars fell short to end with a 6-1 loss, dropping them to 3-4 on the season.

“We’re getting better every single match,” BYU coach Craig Manning said. “There’s got to be a point where we break through.”

Notre Dame gained the advantage in pairs play, winning two of three matches to claim the point. Freshmen duo McCall Jones and Megan Price fell 8-3 to Kelcey Tefft and Kali Krisik, who are currently ranked No.4 in the country. Kristina Doerr and Romina Nedakovic won the only doubles match for BYU with a hard-fought 8-7 victory.

“Our doubles weren’t so hot today, and that is something we need to work on,” Manning said.

The Irish started out with the same momentum in singles, winning on courts two and three and coming within one point of the victory. Jones breathed life into the Cougars with an upset on court one against No. 45 Kelcy Tefft, but BYU needed to win all remaining matches to get the win.

Chie Hayasaka easily won her first set 6-1 but fell 6-3 in the second. The team waited as the junior went down 4-0 in the third. Hayasaka was able to come back and force a tiebreak but eventually fell to give the Irish the victory.

Notre Dame secured the remaining two points with wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions.

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” Manning said. “We just need more belief in ourselves. They had more confidence down the stretch.”

The Cougars will return to action Wednesday at home against No. 37 Boise State.

Match Results
BYU-1
Notre Dame-6
Doubles
1. #4Krisik/Tefft (ND) def. Jones/Price (BYU) 8-3
2. Doerr/Nedakovic def. (BYU) Ciobanu/Frilling (ND) 8-7 (8-5)
3. Mathews/Reilley (ND) def. Carney/Hayasaka (BYU) 8-3 
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2 
Singles
1. M. Jones (BYU) def. #45K. Tefft (ND) 6-1, 6-3
2. #39 K. Frilling (ND) def. #73 K. Doerr (BYU) 6-4, 6-3
3. #62K. Rafael (ND) def. R. Nedakovic (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
4. #46K. Krisik (ND) def. C. Hayasaka (BYU) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)*  
5. C. Ciobanu (ND) def. M. Price (BYU) 6-3, 7-5 
6. S. Mathews (ND) def. E. Carney (BYU) 6-3, 6-2 
* denotes clinching the match—Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 6