2019 NCAA Tennis Championship Team Photo

Cougar Comeback Falls Short against No. 19 Miami

May 03, 2019 | By: Washington State Athletic Communications

STILLWATER, Okla. – The Washington State tennis team saw its season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion as the No. 33 Cougars fell to No. 19 Miami, 4-3, in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Championship Friday afternoon at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

With the loss, the Cougars end their season at 19-11 after advancing to the NCAA Championship for the seventh time in school history and fourth time under Head Coach Lisa Hart. Miami improves to 19-7 and faces the winner of the Oklahoma State-Central Arkansas match.

WSU took a 2-0 lead by winning the doubles point followed by Yang Lee's win at No. 4 singles. Miami then ran off three straight wins before WSU senior Aneta Miksovska pulled out a three-set victory to even the match at 3-3. That put the deciding point at No. 6, which was deep into the third set. After fighting off one match point, WSU's Melisa Ates could not fend off another as Miami's Lucia Marzal clinched the victory with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win.

"I am so proud of the way this team fought all season long and it was no different today," said Hart. "We were playing our best tennis at the end of the season and had opportunities today, but Miami played well so credit to them. While this is a tough loss, I'm so excited for the future of Cougar tennis. We have a strong nucleus coming back and matches like these will help us grow as a program."

Doubles started play and Miami jumped out with early breaks at both 1 and 2, leading 2-0 in both matches. The Cougars' No. 1 duo of Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato, ranked 22nd nationally, started the comeback and eventually tied the match at 3-3. With the match at 4-4, WSU had to fight back from 40-14 down, winning three-straight point to regain a 5-4 lead before clinching the win 6-4. The victory over Miami's Daevenia Achong and Daniella Roldan, the nation's 13th-ranked team, was the sixth-straight for the Cougar duo, all coming against top 50 teams.

At No. 3, WSU's team of Michaela Bayerlova and Miksovska raced to a 3-0 lead before Miami starting clawing back. Winning multiple deuce points, the Hurricane duo of Yuna Ito and Ana Madcur pulled off the 6-3 comeback to even the doubles at a match each and leaving the deciding point to No. 2.

WSU's No. 2 pair of Lee and Ates rebounded after a slow start to lead 5-3 against Estella Perez-Somarriba and Ulyana Shirokova. After Miami cut the deficit to 5-4, the Cougars saved two break points, eventually winning on a Lee volley that gave WSU the opening point.

In singles play, Lee gave WSU a 2-0 lead as she had little trouble with Roldan, winning 6-1, 6-4. It marked Lee's 18th win of the season against just six losses. Miami found the scoreboard at No. 2 when Achong posted a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sato, cutting the Cougar lead to 2-1.

Miami evened the match when Perez-Somarriba, the nation's top-ranked player, completed a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 42 Bayerlova at No. 1. Bayerlova briefly led 3-2 in the second but could not hold the advantage. At No. 3, Ito survived a close first set before pulling away for the 6-4, 6-0 win over Mylonas at No. 3, giving the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead.

Miksovska pulled the Cougars back to 3-3 as she survived a marathon three-setter, winning three deuce points in the final set to pull out the 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory, putting the deciding match at No. 6. The senior ends her Cougar career with 98 singles victories, fourth on WSU's all-time list.

While the team season ends for the Cougars, they still will have representatives at the NCAA singles and Doubles Championships, beginning May 20 in Orlando, Fla. Bayerlova was selected to the singles field at Mylonas and Sato were selected for doubles.

WASHINGTON STATE TENNIS
No. 19 Miami 4 def. No. 33 Washington State 3
NCAA Championship First Round
May 3, 2019
Greenwood Tennis Center
Stillwater, Okla.

DOUBLES