The first day of the Mountain West Conference Tournament is over, and the U women’s tennis team did not get off to a good start, as it was blanked by in-state rival BYU 5-0.
The Utes could not get anything going against the host Cougars, as they were not able to win one singles or doubles match all afternoon.
Coming into the match, the U thought it could compete with the Cougars, as it came close to defeating them in the conference season.
The Utes lost 5-2 in the regular season matchup, but had so many close losses then that the match could have swung either way.
That wasn’t the case on Thursday.
The closest matches of the afternoon were at No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles.
In the former, Brooke Beverley defeated Cassie Kasteler in the only three-set match, winning 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.
In the latter, the Y’s Lu Oswald and Lindsay Ferrell barely came out on top over Kasteler and Ellen Svensson, 8-6.
None of the other matches were very close. Svensson lost her singles match to Rebecca Pike 6-2, 6-4, while the two best players for the Utes?Sheri Esrock and Irini Kotoglou?did not even finish their matches, as the Cougars had already clinched the match after Svensson was defeated.
Utah will have a chance to bounce back today against Wyoming. The Cowgirls were also blanked, by the top-seeded San Diego State Aztecs.
The Utes will have a good chance to beat the Cowgirls, even though they were defeated by Wyoming in the regular season 4-3.