PULLMAN – The University of Utah women’s tennis program faced Washington State on the road Friday afternoon, defeating their Pac-12 counterpart 5-2 to claim their sixth straight victory.
“I absolutely love that win”, said head coach Ric Mortera. “Total team effort to come back after a poorly executed doubles point. The team showed a lot of grit and fight and rose to the challenge. We will take the positives from this and begin preparations for Washington.”
Utah 5, Washington State 2
The Utes struggled to gain traction in singles. Succumbing to Cougar duo Yura Nakagawa and Fifa Kumhom, Kat Lyman and Samantha Horwood lost 6-0 on the second court. Then on court No. 1, Marcela Lopez and Ana Luiza Cruz fell 6-2 to Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse which allowed Washington State to claim the doubles point. Kaila Barksdale and Sara Akid held a 5-3 lead on the third court, but the match was left unfinished.
Utah gained momentum heading into singles. Yuhan Liu defeated Nakagawa on the third court 6-4, 6-0 to get the ball rolling for the Utes. Next to finish was court No. 6, where Akid topped Martina Markov 6-3, 6-2 to put the Utes in the lead. Then on the first court, Lopez claimed victory over Alvarez Sande 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
On the No. 5 court, Cruz battled in a three-set match, but fell 6-4, 4-6, 2-6 to Washington State’s Hania Abouelsaad. After losing the first set 3-6, Lyman evened the match score during the second set by winning 6-4, before driving it home with a 6-4 victory in the third, making back-to-back match-clinching points for Lyman. Closing out the…
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