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By: Josh Fuller

DENVER – Competing in the program's eighth NCAA Round of 16 match, the ninth-ranked Columbus State University women's tennis team fell 5-2 to top-ranked BYU-Hawaii Wednesday. The match took place at the Gates Tennis Center in Denver, the site of this year's NCAA Division II Spring Festival.
 
The Lady Cougars finish the season with a 20-7 record while BYU Hawaii improves to a perfect 23-0. It is the fifth straight 20-win season for CSU and head coach Evan Isaacs.
 
"My heart goes out to the girls," said Isaacs. "We played really well today against the top team in the country and the team has no reason to hang their heads. They battled this whole year and I'm proud of the effort I saw on the court."
 
It was a great start to the day for the Lady Cougars as CSU took two of the three doubles matches to grab an early 2-1 lead. Olivera Tadijin and Rachael Williams recorded the first Lady Cougar victory with an 8-5 win at third doubles over Kanela Adamson and Jade Griffin. BYU Hawaii was able to even things up after a win at first doubles. The top-ranked doubles team of Summer Wen and Dallas Zhang defeated CSU's ninth-ranked pair of Camila Tobar and Kirsa Utech 8-2.
 
The swing match was the most exciting competition of the morning. At second doubles, 19th-ranked Beatriz Leon and Giorgia Vitale and 10th-ranked Karen Liu and Shu-Ying Hsieh battled into a tiebreaker after the match was tied 8-8. The Lady Cougar duo was eventually victorious 7-5 in the tiebreaker to win the match 9-8.
 
It was all BYU-Hawaii in singles play, however. The Seasiders won four of the six singles matches to reach the five-win mark to advance to the quarterfinals. First singles was the first to wrap-up as top-ranked Zhang defeated 11th-ranked Leon 6-1, 6-1. Third singles saw 20th-ranked Wen defeat Tadijin 6-1, 6-2 while 46th-ranked Hsieh won 6-2, 6-3 over Utech at the fourth spot. In the clincher at sixth singles, Griffin snuck by Williams in a second set tiebreaker to take the match 6-1, 7-6.
 
In the unfinished matches, Jeong-Min Jeon was up a set against Vitale at the fith spot while 41st-ranked Tobar was just two games away from a victory at second singles against seventh-ranked Liu.

Singles
 
1. #1 Dallas Zhang (BYUH) def. #11 Beatriz Leon (CSU) 6-1, 6-1
2. #41 Camila Tobar (CSU) vs. #7 Karen Liu (BYUH) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
3. #20 Summer Wen (BYUH) def. Olivera Tadijin (CSU) 6-1, 6-2
4. #46 Shu-Ying Hsieh (BYUH) def. Kirsa Utech (CSU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Giorgia Vitale (CSU) vs. Jeong-Min Jeon (BYUH 5-7, 1-1, unfinished
6. Jade Griffin (BYUH) def. Rachael Williams (CSU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)
 
Doubles
 
1. #1 Wen/Zhang (BYUH) def. #9 Tobar/Utech (CSU) 8-2
2. #19 Leon/Vitale (CSU) def. #10 Karen Liu/Hsieh (BYUH) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Tadijin/Williams (CSU) def. Kanela Adamson/Griffin (BYUH) 8-5