WSU tennis dropped their first two road games of the season against two talented and undefeated Utah and Minnesota teams.

4-3 loss to Utah

The Cougs and Utes entered Friday’s match undefeated in the young dual season. Unfortunately for the Cougs, the Utes remained undefeated after a tough contest.

Despite losing the first doubles match, the Cougs captured the doubles point. 

Fifth-year Michaela Bayerlova and freshman Maxine Murphy lost in the No. 1 spot to Utah’s Madison Tattini and Linda Huang, 6-2. Sophomore Fifa Kumhom and senior Yang Lee won their doubles round in the No. 2 spot, beating Utah’s Anastasia Goncharova and Emily Dush 6-4

Freshman Elyse Tse and senior Savanna Ly-Nguyen beat Utah’s Katya Hersh and Lindsay Hung 7-5, giving WSU the doubles point.

In singles play, Bayerlova beat Huang 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 1 spot. Murphy lost to Utah’s Hung 2-6, 3-6 in the No. 3 spot. Kumhom lost to Utah’s Tattini 2-6, 3-6 in the No. 5 spot.

The Cougs needed to win both of the remaining games to claim victory.

Freshman Hania Abouelsaad beat Anya Lamoreaux 6-3, 3-6. 6-3 to keep the Cougs alive.

Tse rallied from a 1-4 deficit to win her first set 7-6 (8-6). Unfortunately, she could not finish the deal, losing to Goncharova 8-6, 1-6, 3-6 at No. 4.

Ultimately, the Cougs lost 4-3 in their most competitive match of the season.

Friday’s match was WSU’s first in 13 days. Their previous weekend matches against Baylor and TCU were canceled because of inclement weather.

5-2 loss to Minnesota

The Cougs were outdone by a talented Minnesota squad, losing 5-2.

The Cougs lost the doubles point this time around. 

Bayerlova and Murphy lost to the Gophers’ No. 1 doubles pair, Emilee Duong and Rachel Hanford, 4-6. Ly-Nguyen and Tse lost to Minnesota’s Maria Rizzolo and Lucy Lu, 5-7.

Kumhom and Lee salvaged a game from Minnesota, beating Ekin Ercetin and Dalila Said, 6-4.

Murphy finished singles first, coming from behind 0-5 to win the third set 6-5 at No. 3. She finished 6-4, 7-5 against Rizzolo, 7-5, 6-4.

Bayerlova beat Hanford at the No. 1 spot in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. Bayerlova improved to 8-0 in singles with her win.

The Cougs lost consecutively as Tse could only score once more after winning the first set. She went 6-2, 0-6, 1-6 against Vasis Karvouni in the No. 4 spot, and Ly-Nguyen lost to Duong 6-7 (8-10) at No. 2.

The Cougs were down 3-2 and needed to win both remaining games to claim victory.

Unfortunately, Abouselsaad could not finish, conceding a 5-2 lead in her third set to lose to Said at No. 6, 6-4, 4-6, 5-7.

With Abouselsaad’s unfinished match, WSU was defeated. Minnesota beat WSU to clinch their best start in program history. After WSU’s matches, Utah beat Minnesota 4-0 to improve to 9-0 after only winning seven games last season.

The Cougs continue their road trip in California, where they will play UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. Friday and the University of San Diego at 11 a.m. Saturday.