Spartans Drop to Arizona and BYU

TUSCON, Ariz. – The Michigan State women’s tennis team concluded its west coast trip in dropping a doubleheader matchup against Arizona (4-0) and Brigham Young (4-0) on Saturday.

With the losses, the Green and White drops to 1-2 overall to begin the season. Arizona improved to 2-1 and BYU remains undefeated at 3-0.

The Spartans and Wildcats completed doubles play on Friday that went in the favor of Arizona taking the first point of the match. The match carried over to Saturday morning where the host team did not let up sweeping MSU en route to the 4-0 victory.

The Cougars started out strong in doubles competition, as BYU took the wins on the top two courts to gain the doubles point. The tandem of Emilee Astle and Kendall Kovick opened things up on court one with a 6-2 victory, defeating the Spartan pairing of Ayshe Can and Liisa Vehvilainen. On court two the duo of Bobo Huang and Kaavya Sawhney took down Nicole Conard and Issey Purser 6-1.

In singles play, BYU kept the winning going as Tina Li defeated MSU’s Vehvilainen (6-3,6-1) on court two. Moments later on court one, Matilde Morais couldn’t pass Huang dropping the match 6-3,6-1. Lastly on court six, the Cougars were able to lock in the win with Maddy Smith defeating Nicole Conard in a tight first set 6-4 then 6-2 in the second set.

Michigan State will take a trip to the northeast when it takes on Boston College on Feb. 3 and Dartmouth on Feb. 4.

MATCH RESULTS

Arizona 4, Michigan State 0

DOUBLES

1. Lauren Friedman / Brandelyn Fulgenzi (ARIZ) def. Ayshe Can / Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) 6-2

2. Reece Carter / Martyna Ostrzygalo (ARIZ) def. Nicole Conard / Issey Purser (MSU) 6-2

3. Tanvi Narendran / Kayla Wilkins (ARIZ) match was unfinished v. Matilde Morais / Natalie Stasny (MSU) 4-3

SINGLES

1. Reece Carter (ARIZ) def. Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) 6-3, 6-4

2. Teja Tirunelveli (ARIZ) def. Matilde Morais (MSU) 6-2, 6-3

3. Midori Castillo-Meza (ARIZ) match was unfinished v. Ayshe Can (MSU) 2-6, 6-4

4. Kayla Wilkins (ARIZ) match was unfinished v. Issey Purser (MSU) 5-7, 4-1

5. Brandelyn Fulgenzi (ARIZ) def. Natalie Stasny (MSU) 6-3, 6-2

6. Tanvi Narendran (ARIZ) match was unfinished v. Ria Bhakta (MSU) 3-6, 4-2

Brigham Young 4, Michigan State 0

DOUBLES

1. Emilee Astle / Kendall Kovick (BYU) def. Ayshe Can / Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) 6-2

2. Bobo Huang / Kaavya Sawhney (BYU) def. Nicole Conard / Issey…