ORLANDO, Fla. – The Washington State doubles team of Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato became the first Cougar pair to win a match at the NCAA Doubles Championship when they rallied for a three-set victory over Winthrop's Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tennis Doubles Championship Tuesday at the USTA National Campus.
 
Also on Tuesday, WSU sophomore Michaela Bayerlova saw her season come to an end in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tennis Singles Championship.
 
Mylonas and Sato, ranked No. 22 nationally, began their incredible comeback late in the second set as they trailed 6-1, 4-1. The pair grabbed a break of serve to close the gap to 4-3 before Winthrop, ranked No. 44, earned their own break of serve to pull within one game of victory. They drew no closer.
 
Trailing 3-5, WSU again broke serve, starting a string of four-straight game to secure the second set and force a third-set tiebreaker to determine the match. In the tiebreaker, it was all WSU. The Cougars jumped out to leads of 3-1, 6-3 and eventually 9-3 before Winthrop saved two match points to close to 9-5. They did not save a third as Kauffman's forehand found the net, giving the Cougars the come-from-behind, three-set win.
 
"I'm so impressed with the heart and never say die mentality Hikaru and Tiffany play with," said WSU Head Coach Lisa Hart. "Being down a set and 4-1, they rallied back to win a close second set and played their best tennis when it counted most in the 10-point tiebreaker. This was a great win today and now the focus turns to tomorrow's match against a very good South Carolina team."
 
With the win, the Cougar pair improved to 27-6 on the season. In their last 10 matches, they are 7-0 with three matches stopped before completion. All 10 matches have come against teams ranked in the top 50. Two other Cougar duos have reached the NCAA Doubles Championship, both in 2001 and 2002, but this year marked the first win in program history.
 
Bayerlova, ranked No. 42 nationally, fell 6-0-, 6-2 to No. 25 Katarina Stresnakova from Oklahoma State. It marked the second-straight season Bayerlova has reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
 
"I'm very proud of Michaela for another outstanding season," said Hart. "She ran into a tough opponent today and tried to battle, but could not come out on top."
 
Stresnakova came out quick and Bayerlova had no answers. Proving to be steadier from the baseline, the Oklahoma State senior rolled to a 6-0 first set.
 
The second set proved to be much of the same as Stresnakova raced to a 3-0 lead by pinning Bayerlova on the baseline. The Cougar sophomore broke the run of nine straight game by delivering an ace to hold serve, making it 1-3. Bayerlova found a break of serve late in the match but it was not enough as Stresnakova closed out the straight-set win in the next game.
 
Bayerlova's season ends with a 23-8 singles record.