On Wednesday, the Utah women’s tennis team beat rival BYU in a 7-0 victory in the Deseret First Duel at the Eccles Tennis Center. This was the Utes’ first win since their defeat of New Mexico, improving their overall record to 6-3.
“I must say I was worried about this matchup, as BYU is very good,” said head coach Mat Iandolo in a press release. “We played our best match of the year and took advantage of our home court. I am very proud of our team.”
The first double match of the evening saw a 6-1 win from the duo of sophomore Margo Pletcher and freshman Brianna Turley over BYU’s Mayci Jones and Toby Miclat. Junior Luisa Gerstner Da Rosa and freshman Taylor Calton claimed a 6-3 victory to secure the doubles point for the Utes.
The Utes swept the singles play, with senior Sarah Richter kicking things off by winning 6-0, 6-3. Turley followed with a win of her own shortly after (6-1, 6-4) while her sophomore teammate Jena Cheng wasn’t far behind with another victory (6-0, 6-3).
Pletcher and Calton’s strong doubles play carried over into their respective singles matches, with Pletcher taking a victory against BYU’s Jones (6-2, 6-2) and Calton beating Natella Nabieva (6-2, 7-6, 7-4).
Following suit, sophomore Lexi Petrovic improved her season singles play record by defeating Erica Chichoni in a three-set nail biter, 6-2, 4-6, 10-6, to finish off the Cougars.
Up next, Utah will face Minnesota on Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. CT and Wisconsin the following day at 10 a.m. CT.
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