Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland women's tennis pulled out a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over BYU in a West Coast Conference women's tennis match Saturday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center.
The Pilots (6-7, 1-2 WCC) dropped a close doubles point, but bounced back with excellent singles play throughout the lineup to even their league record.
Iva Zelic continues to anchor the lineup and was cruising with a 6-2, 1-0 lead when Anastasia Abramyan retired to even the team score. Zelic improved to 12-1 in dual singles at the top of the lineup and has now won ninth consecutive matches.
Freshman Sally Pethybridge put the Pilots ahead with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win against Leah Heimuli at No. 2 singles, but the Cougars (7-11, 1-2) got a victory to tie it at the No. 3 position.
Portland freshman Aleksandra Dimitrijevic played her best of match of the season to earn a 6-4, 6-3 win against Kara Lin at No. 5 singles to make it 3-2 Pilots.
Sophomore Rimona Rouf clinched it with a thriller at No. 4 singles. She defeated Emilee Astle after winning two tiebreakers on center court before being mobbed by teammates. The Phoenix, Ariz. native has won six of her last seven dual matches.
BYU capped the scoring with Xenia de Luna earning the win at No. 6 singles. The Cougars grabbed the early lead with a hard-fought doubles point. Dimitrijevic and Neli Sunjic won at No. 3 singles for Portland, but BYU clinched with 6-4 and 7-5 wins at the top two positions, respectively.
Portland continues WCC play next week with a Bay Area road trip. The Pilots will visit Santa Clara on Friday at 11 a.m. and then San Francisco on Saturday at 2 p.m. Live coverage links for all upcoming matches is available at
PortlandPilots.com.
Portland 4, BYU 3
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
March 26, 2022
Singles
1. Iva Zelic (POR) def. Anastasia Abramyan (BYU) 6-2, 1-0 retired
2. Sally Pethybridge (POR) def. Leah Heimuli (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Yujia Huang (BYU) def. Neli Sunjic (POR) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
4. Rimona Rouf (POR) def. Emilee Astle (BYU) 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4)
5. Aleksandra Dimitrijevic (POR) def. Kara Lin (BYU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Xenia de Luna (BYU) def. Angela Schuster (POR) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1. Heimuli/Jiao (BYU) def. Pethybridge/Rouf (POR) 6-4
2. Abramyan/Huang (BYU) def. Zelic/Schuster (POR) 7-5
3. Dimitrijevic/Sunjic (POR) def. Astle/Lin (BYU) 6-4
Match Notes:
BYU 7-11, 1-2 WCC
Portland 6-7, 1-1 WCC
Order of Finish: Singles (1,2,3,5,4,6): Doubles (1,3,2)
