Utah State women's tennis upset No. 55 BYU on Wednesday afternoon, 4-3, in Provo, earning the program's first win against the Cougars in its eighth try. It was BYU's first loss at home since April of 2013. Freshman Meghan Lyall provided the deciding point in a winner-take-all final match.

"This was a tremendous team effort, and I am so proud of our effort. BYU is a great team, and we found a way to beat them in Provo, which made it even sweeter," USU head coach Sean McInerney said. "We have come a long way as a program, and this was a huge step forward for us. We expected to win and we got the job done."

The match started in doubles play, where senior McKenzie Davis and freshman Maggie O'Meara teamed up for a quick win against Meghan Sheehan-Dixon and Erica Valimaki, 6-1, at the third position. However, BYU evened the doubles score when Savannah Ware and Nicolette Tran defeated USU's team of sophomores Lexi Turley and Nini Guensler, 6-1, at the second position. Junior Kallie Sperry and Lyall won a close match, 6-4, against the No. 1-ranked tandem in the Mountain Region, Mayci Jones and Toby Miclat, at the first position to give USU the doubles point.

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Then, the match moved to singles where Davis made quick work of Jones, the No. 4-ranked singles player in the Mountain Region, defeating her in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot. BYU put a point on the board as Sheehan-Dixon topped Turley in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot. Guensler then gave USU a 3-1 advantage in the dual match, as she topped Tran, the No. 17-ranked player in the Mountain Region, 7-5, 7-6, at the No. 2 spot.

However, the Cougars took control of the next two matches as Miclat topped Sperry in a three-set battle, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, at the No. 4 spot, and Ware topped freshman Sabrina Demerath, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 5 spot to even the match at 3-3. Then, Lyall started her comeback at the No. 6 spot after losing her first set, 6-2, to take the next two sets, 6-4, 6-3, to beat Katie Fitt and give USU the 4-3 dual match win.

Next up for Utah State is a month-long stretch of eight road matches, starting with a trip to the Midwest to face Iowa State on Feb. 7, and Iowa on Feb. 8.

Doug Hoffman is the associate athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.

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