Cougars take on Denver and Nevada in home opener

PROVO— In its first weekend of home matches of the 2012 season, the BYU women’s tennis team takes on Denver and Nevada on Friday and Saturday at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.

“We’re excited to be playing at home,” BYU coach Lauren Jones-Spencer said. “It will be nice to play in an altitude we’re used to and have the support of a home crowd. The team has made significant improvements from last match and we’re ready and excited to play.”

The Cougars (0-2) challenge Denver (5-0) on Friday at noon followed by a noon match against Nevada (0-0) on Saturday.

BYU looks to rebound after back-to-back losses to No. 38 Long Beach State and No. 56 UC Irvine last weekend. Denver is coming off a 6-1 victory over Arkansas State. Nevada kicks off its season on Friday at Utah before travelling to Provo to take on the Cougars.

Playing at the No. 1 position for BYU is sophomore Desiree Tran. Tran holds an 8-6 overall record and teams up with freshman Morgan Anderson to form the No. 2 doubles duo for the Cougars.

Senior Megan Price sits at the No. 2 position in singles. Price and freshman Meghan Sheenhan-Dizon have earned BYU’s two singles victories in the first two matches of the season. The two also play at the No. 1 doubles position.

Denver’s Sophia Bergner is 5-0 at the No. 1 position for the Wolf Pack. Bergner teams up with Steffi Rath to play on Court 1 for doubles as well, where the duo is 2-0 in dual play.

BYU leads the series against Denver, 5-2, and is 2-0 all-time against Nevada. The Cougars topped the Wolf Pack 4-3 in their meeting in the 2010-11 season.

Spectators may park in the Y Lot parking lots to the northwest and southwest of the courts after 4 p.m. on Friday and all day Saturday. Admission is free and pizza will be provided.

Whitney Weekes works in BYU Athletic Communications as the tennis sports information director. She can be reached at tennis_sid@byu.edu.