BYUH women's tennis streak ends at 103

Advertiser Staff

It's over.

The Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's tennis team lost its first dual match in three years yesterday, falling to Lynn (Fla.) University, 5-3, in the final of the NCAA Division II National Championships at Pensacola, Fla.

The loss ended the Seasiders' 103-match winning streak and their two-year reign as Division II national champions.

The BYUH men also lost yesterday, falling to Drury (Mo.), 5-4, in a third-place match.

The women's match turned on a crucial point in doubles play and was decided on a surprising loss by the nation's No. 1 singles player.

With the score 1-1 after two doubles matches, BYUH's Amy Sun and Hana Krivonozkova took a 40-love advantage over Maria Palacios and Maria Alves, but failed to convert on three match-point opportunities. Palacios and Alves eventually rallied to win the match, 9-7, putting Lynn ahead heading into singles play.

Lynn led 4-3 after each team won straight-set matches in singles play. With BYUH needing a sweep of the last two matches to pull out the win, Petra Gaspar, Division II's top singles player the last two years, dropped three straight games in the third set and lost to Lynn's Monika Mastalirova, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Prior to yesterday's match, the Seasiders were unbeaten in Division II play. Their last defeat came against Auburn-Montgomery in a 1998 NAIA regular-season match. The Seasiders went on to win the NAIA Championships that year then moved to NCAA Division II the following season.

BYUH's streak of 103 dual-match victories was unprecedented at any level of collegiate tennis and included wins over 23 Division I schools.

The BYUH women end the season at 36-1; the men at 30-4.