First Round Exit for Tennis Teams

Albuquerque, N.M. (April 23, 2009) –The BYU men’s and women’s tennis teams ended the season Thursday after dropping their respective quarterfinal matches at the Mountain West Conference Tournament in New Mexico.

The women’s team fell 4-3 to New Mexico while the men’s team lost 4-0 to San Diego State.

“We got tight and beat ourselves,” BYU women’s coach Craig Manning said. “But New Mexico played well and did what was needed to put us in that position.”

BYU’s No. 63 women’s squad started out strong, capturing the doubles point after wins by Kristina Doerr and McCall Jones on court one and Liza Ezhova and Romina Nedakovic on court three.

In singles play, Megan Price increased the Cougars’ lead with a straight-set win at the No. 4 position. The Lobos struck back with a victory on court two. Liza Ezhova put BYU within one point of the win after defeating her New Mexico opponent.

“We couldn’t quite close it out,” Manning said. “We just need a little more experience.”

The Lobos took the next two matches to tie the score at three-all. A place in the semifinal round came down to Romina Nedakovic on court six. The freshman dropped the first set but fought back to win the second before eventually falling to give New Mexico the 4-3 victory and a semifinal match against top-seeded UNLV Friday.

On the men’s side, there was trouble from the beginning for the Cougars. San Diego State won the first two doubles matches to claim the point and the advantage going into singles play.

“Across the board, we didn’t get a good start in doubles,” BYU men’s coach Brad Pearce said. “In many respects, that carried over to singles.”

The Aztecs never looked back, recording wins on courts one, five and two to secure the victory. SDSU will face first-seeded TCU Friday in the semifinal round.

“Our guys were a little tentative,” Pearce said. “San Diego State seemed more sure of themselves with the altitude change after having played New Mexico Tuesday.”

Match Results
 Women 
BYU-3
New Mexico-4
Doubles 
1. McCall Jones/Kristina Doerr (BYU) def. Ola Abou-Zerky/Emma Hayman (NM) 8-5
2. Ashley Bonner/A. Villanueva-Forte (NM) def. Elle Carney/Megan Price (BYU) 8-5
3. Romina Nedakovic/Elizaveta Ezhova (BYU) def. Maria Sotirchos/Victoria Tessmar (NM) 8-6
Order of finish: 1,2,3
Singles
1. Ola Abou-Zerky (NM) def. #119 McCall Jones (BYU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
2. Mackenzie White (NM) def. Kristina Doerr (BYU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Emma Hayman (NM) def. Chie Haysaka (BYU) 6-0, 3-6, 7-5
4. Megan Price (BYU) def. Ashley Bonner (NM) 6-2, 6-2
5. Liza Ezhova (BYU) def. A. Villanueva-Forte (NM) 6-2, 6-3
6. Maria Sotirchos (NM) def. Romina Nedakovic (BYU) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 4,2,5,3,1,6
Men
BYU-0
San Diego State-4
Doubles 
1. Achim Ceban/Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Thomas Shubert/Daniel Hwang (BYU) 8-5
2. Bartosz Golas/T. Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Georgy Batrakov/A.J. Young (BYU) 8-3
3. Giovanni Vaglietti/Andre Feliz (SDSU) vs. Cassidy Mears/Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-5, unfinished
Order of finish: 2,1
Singles 
1. #125 Achim Ceban (SDSU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Roman Warias (BYU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0
3. #122 Bartosz Golas (SDSU) vs. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 3-6, 6-5, unfinished
4. Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU) vs. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 7-5, 3-4, unfinished
5. T. Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Andre Feliz (SDSU) vs. Daniel Hwang (BYU) 3-6, 5-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 1,5,2