No. 51 Utah Returns Home to Face No. 46 BYU in Saturday Matinee

Saturday, March 7

Salt Lake City, Utah

Noon

University of Utah

BYU

No. 51 Utah Returns Home to Face No. 46 BYU in Saturday Matinee

3/4/2026 9:16 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Takota Lee

SALT LAKE CITY— The University of Utah women's tennis team returns home to face in-state rival BYU Saturday Mar. 7 at Noon in the George S. Eccles Tennis Center. The Utes are currently ranked No. 51 on the ITA polls while BYU is ranked No. 46. Despite two straight losses, the Utes have a 5-0 at home and a 6-5 record on the season.

MATCH INFORMATION
Utah (6-5, 0-2 Big 12) vs. BYU (9-2, 0-2 Big 12)
DATE | TIME: Saturday, March 7 | Noon MT
LOCATION: George S. Eccles Tennis Center | Salt Lake City, UT
LIVE STATS: Click Here
TWITTER UPDATES:@UteWomensTennis

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
The No. 47 Brigham Young Cougars are coming off of two road losses to start their conference play— a 4-1 loss against the UCF Knights and a 4-0 loss against the Houston Cougars. The Cougars only point win came at the No. 1 spot from Gracie Levelston when she defeating UCF's Olivia Bergler 6-2, 6-3.

Throughout the 2026 season, the Cougars have success in duo YuYun Chen and Kendall Novick where the pair have an overall 5-3 record.

In singles action, the Cougars are led by Sage Bergeson with a 9-3 record. Bergeston is coming off of back to back losses in Big 12 play. Another Cougar on the court to keep an eye out for is Bella Lewis. Lewis has a 9-2 this year at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots.
The Cougars hold an 11-3 record for the 2026 season and are 0-2 in Big 12 action.

THE UTES
The Utah women's tennis program returns seniors Dylan Lolofie, Kaila Barksdale and Emma Valletta. The Utes also welcome juniors Sara Akid and Emma Kamper this season. Utah has one sophomore returning to the squad in Hayley Roberts. The Utes welcome four newcomers with two transfers in Emmie Moore and Kamea Medora and two new true freshmen in Andjelija Markovic and Hailey Kerker.

LAST TIME OUT
The University of Utah women's tennis team are coming off a two-loss road stint to open up conference play including a 3-4 loss to the No. 47 Houston Cougars and a 4-0 loss to the No. 42 UCF Knights.

The Utes' lost the first point of the match against the Houston Cougars in doubles action when Houston nabbed quick wins on Courts No. 1 and No. 3. The match on court No. 2 between Utah's Emmie Moore and Sara Akid and Iva Sepa and Valeriia Krokhotina was ultimately left unfinished with the Utes up, 5-4.

In singles action verus Houston, the Cougars quickly went up 3-0 with two wins on courts No. 5 and No. 6. The Utes defended with two wins of their own in Emma Kamper (6-2, 6-4) at the No. 1 spot and Akid (1-6, 6-3, 6-2) at the No. 3 spot. At the No. 4 spot, Utah's Kaila Barksdale tied the overall match 3-3 with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Houston's Krokhotina. The final point came down to Utah's Emmie Moore and Houston Chems Doha Zeghlouli at the No. 2 spot. Zeghlouli claimed a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Moore after dropping the first set and clinched the overall match for the Cougars.

The Utes then traveled to the Sunshine State to face the Knights on February 28.

In doubles action, the Knights came out hot and secured the doubles point advantage on courts No. 3 and No. 1 and left the match at court No. 2 unfinished. In singles action, the Knights picked up straight wins at the No. 5, No. 6 and No. 2 spot to clinch the overall match and defeating the Utes 4-0.

The Utes are currently 6-5 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.

HEAD COACH RUTH ANN ALLEN
The Utah women's tennis team welcomed Ruth Ann Allen as head coach this past season. A Utah native and a Utah All-American and Hall of Famer, Allen returns to lead the program after a successful tenure as head coach at Weber State. She guided the Wildcats to a Big Sky Championship in 2023 and was twice named Big Sky Coach of the Year (2022, 2023).

Before Weber State, Allen spent 20 seasons as an assistant coach at Utah, where she helped the Utes secure multiple NCAA Tournament bids, two Mountain West Conference titles, and numerous top-five regional rankings. Allen, an All-American during her playing career at Utah, was inducted into the Utah Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2023.

NEXT UP
The Utes will face a nonconference opponent in the Utah Tech Trailblazers on Mar. 9 in Saint George, Utah.

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