Tennis wins one, drops one in San Diego

Michaela Bayerlova gets her 11th win of season

OLIVA WOLF | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE

Junior Michaela Bayerlova hits the ball against Gonzaga on Feb. 8 at Hollingberry Fieldhouse.

Nick Oldham, Evergreen sports editor

The WSU tennis team fell to No. 32 University of San Diego 4-3 on Friday and defeated the University of California, Santa Barbara 4-2 on Saturday in San Diego, California.

University of San Diego (6-4) continues its amazing run by winning a fifth match in a row and knocking off a ranked team in two consecutive matches, as they took down then-No. 22 University of Southern California on Feb. 22.

WSU got one of its match wins in singles play from No. 63 junior Michaela Bayerlova over No. 59 sophomore Solymar Colling. Bayerlova’s victory over Colling will improve her record and will increase her chances of moving up in singles play rankings.

The Cougars dropped their doubles matches to start, as Bayerlova and sophomore Hikaru Sato lost to Solymar and freshman Helena Francati. Senior captain Melisa Ates, T-107, and sophomore Yang Lee won in doubles play, as senior Jovana Knezevic and freshman Pang Jittakoat dropped their match.

Joining Bayerlova in singles play victories was Jittakoat and Lee, as they defeated their USD opponents in straight sets by scores of 6-1, 7-5 and 6-0, 6-4.

The Cougars captured the victory over UC Santa Barbara after falling to No. 32 San Dieg.

WSU started off with a smooth victory in doubles play as Bayerlova and Sato won by a score of 6-2, and Knezevic and Jittakoat won by the same score.

Bayerlova won another singles match on Saturday; this time against senior Amit Lev Ari. The victory marked her 11th win of the season and will continue her reputation as one of the best singles players in the country.

Following Bayerlova in singles victories was Sato, Jittakoat and Ates. Sophomore Savanna Ly-Nguyen and sophomore Yang Lee were defeated in their during singles play matches.

WSU broke Santa Barbara’s two match win streak, which Santa Barbara did by beating Texas Christian University and University of California, Davis.

The Cougars get right back on track with their victory over Santa Barbara, as they will now head home to start conference play against University of Colorado, Boulder on Friday and University of Utah on Sunday.