Cougars boast 11 victories in UCSB Classic

SANTA BARBARA -- The BYU women’s tennis team pulled off a triumphant finish in the UCSB Classic Saturday, recording 11 wins including the bracket A doubles title.

“I thought that we did really well today,” said Lauren Spencer, interim head coach for the Cougars. “We came up more focused. I think these wins gave us confidence and are helping us get a rhythm going.”

Success started with No. 2 seed Callie Craig and Megan Price pulling off a victory in doubles bracket A, beating Michelle Murphy and Erica Cano of UCSB 8-1. The pair went on to claim the title after an 8-5 match against No. 1 seed Ali Walters and Khunpak Issara of Pepperdine.

Elle Carney and Aubrey Paul added their own victory to the tally, with a win in doubles bracket B against Denver’s Caroline Schnell and Natalie Dunn.

Elizaveta Ezhova and Annika Huish narrowly lost to Judy Liening and Ryann Warner of Eastern Washington 8-6.

In singles, No. 4 seed Price swept UCSB’s Jill Damion 6-0, 6-1, but fell to No. 2 seed Walters of Pepperdine in the quarterfinals of bracket A 6-3, 6-1.

Huish lost to Ane McPike of Cal Poly and Alex McIntosh of UCSB in singles flight C.

The consolation rounds saw more success for the Cougars, with Craig coming out on top in her duels with Andrea Oates of Pepperdine and Sophia Bergner of Denver in flight A.

In the round-robin style consolation rounds for bracket B, Carney, Ezhova and Paul each put up a win—Carney defeating Kelsey Knight of Eastern Washington 6-4, 6-2, Ezhova defeating Chelsea Patton of Eastern Washington 6-3, 7-5 and Paul defeating Casey Reede of UCSB 6-1, 6-3.

Ezhova went on to beat Knight (3-6, 6-1, 6-0) and Paul beat Patton (6-3, 6-0) in the next round of consolation bracket B. Carney lost to Dunn of Denver after a grueling 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (4) match.

The Cougars now look ahead to the ITA Region VII Tournament, which runs from Oct. 13 to Oct. 17 and will be held in Las Vegas.