Cowgirl Tennis entered Mountain West conference play with split games over the weekend. The Cowgirls (7-7) took the first game of conference against the Air Force Falcons (17-7) 6-1, and fell 5-2 to the New Mexico Lobos (14-7).
“Congratulations to New Mexico who out played us on a few lines,” Wyoming head coach Dean Clower told gowyo.com. “We have had a good start to conference play, but need to be more detailed in some areas. The team has come a long way with more matches to come.”
In Friday’s doubles against Air Force, Wyoming took the doubles point to gain an early lead. The Cowgirls won two of the three matches.
In the first slot, senior Veronica Popovici and freshman Dorottya Jonas (12-10) defeated junior Natasha Rizvi and sophomore Mary Meyers 8-3.
Junior Silviya Zhelyazkova and freshman Alena Vasileva (2-1) brought home the doubles point for Wyoming with a 8-4 win over Air Force’s junior Marcelli Magday and senior Anastasia Hueffner .
Falcons junior Tiffany Tran and freshman Lily Forlini took an 8-4 win over Cowgirl juniors Christa Gecheva and Alma Espinosa for their only doubles victory.
Singles play remained in the Cowgirls favor. Popovici took Tran 6-3, 6-1. Jonas (4-6, 6-2, 6-1), Gecheva (6-3, 4-6, 6-3) and Espinosa (6-2, 2-6, 1-0) all defeated their Air Force counterparts in sets of three.
Vasileva wrapped up the match with a single 8-6 win over freshman Tracy Landram.
The only Air Force point came from Rizvi, beating Zhelyazkova 6-4, 6-3.
“The players came out and executed everything we have been working on perfectly,” said coach Clower. “In singles play, most of the matches came down to small turning points in each set and we played disciplined tennis.”
Sunday, the Cowgirls traveled to Albuquerque, N.M. to face the Lobos.
The doubles point was lost when New Mexico took two of the three matches.
Popovici and Jonas pulled away with one of the three singles matches, winning over senior Michaela Bezdickova and freshman Lizette Blankers 8-6.
Espinosa and Gecheva fell 2-8 while Vasileva and Zhelyazkova were upset 3-8.
In singles, the Cowgirls won two of the six matches, falling short of a win.
Popovici defeated UNM’s Bezdickova 6-0, 6-1, and Zhelyazkova took down freshman Meredith Hopson in a set of three 5-7, 6-4, 11-9; they were the only Cowgirls to win their matches.
In a second slot set of three, UNM’s Blankers beat Jonas 6-1, 6-7, 10-8.
The fourth, fifth and sixth position were all UNM victories, hoisting them to a 5-2 win.
Junior Natasha Smith beat Gecheva 6-4, 6-1, freshman Dominique Dulski won over Vasileva 7-5, 6-1 and freshman Rachana Bhat over Espinosa 6-4, 6-1.
Friday the Cowgirls will return home to continue conference play against Boise State (12-8) at 1 p.m., followed by Utah State (12-8) on Sunday at 10 a.m.
