Tennis falls in season opener
Team will play Cal Golden Bears on Monday after loss to Texas A&M
BEN SCHUH | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE
WSU then-freshman Savanna Ly-Nguyen prepares to return a ball during her singles match Jan. 12, 2019 against Idaho’s Anna Stefani. Ly-Nguyen won the match in two sets winning 6-4 and 6-0 respectively.
January 25, 2021
After poor weather washed out what was supposed to be the season opener on Saturday, WSU tennis fell to Texas A&M 4-1 on Sunday.
Coming into this Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend tournament, head coach Lisa Hart was excited about the matches to come.
“We are very honored and feel privileged to be in the group that will be playing,” Hart said.
After several more rain delays Sunday morning, the event finally began at 11:30 a.m. after being scheduled for 9 a.m. the previous day.
The competition began with three one-set doubles matches. WSU was swept by scores of 6-1, 6-2, and 5-2 to give Texas A&M an early 1-0 lead on the team scoreboard.
Once singles matches began, we saw the true marquee matchup when No. 55 ranked junior Michaela Bayerlova of WSU faced No. 64 ranked Tatiana Makarova of Texas A&M.
In their meeting, Bayerlova was able to win easily in straight sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-1 to extend her individual winning streak to 14 matches.
Even with Bayerlova’s victory, Texas A&M was able to hold on with Hikaru Sato losing to Jayci Goldsmith despite a valiant effort. Fifa Kumhom also fell to Katya Townsend and Pang Jittakoat fell to Renee McBryde.
Because of the postponement of matches on Saturday, the team will be in Los Angeles for an extra day. They will face the No. 19 team in the nation, the Cal Golden Bears, on Monday in a third-place match, following their 4-0 loss to No. 2 ranked UCLA. The match is set to begin at 9 a.m. and will be streamed on the UCLA Athletics website.
