Sun Devils Squeak Past Cougars 5-2

PHOENIX -- The No. 75 BYU men's tennis team fell 5-2 on Monday to a tough No. 26-ranked Arizona State Sun Devil team at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Phoenix. With the loss the Cougars fall to 2-11 on the season.

Gaining an early edge on the Sun Devils, the Cougars won at the No. 1 and 2 doubles spots to claim the doubles point. Erik Nyman and Nima Roshan defeated Andy Colombo and Jonathan Kinsella 8-5 while temmates Richard Dasek and Dominik Kaufhold pushed past Chris Stewart and Daniel Davies of Arizona State in an 8-5 decision.

Winning at the No. 1 singles position, BYU's Nyman had a big win over Colombo in two straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Nyman had the only singles win for the Cougars. Nima Roshan nearly defeated Christopher Biro of ASU in the third set.

Posting one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA, the BYU men's tennis team is building momentum for conference action with the goal in mind of being at the top of the Mountain West. Conference play begins on April 2 for the Cougars. The Cougars will face the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal Tuesday March 23 at 11 a.m.

"Mid-way through the match, I felt like we were going to win," head coach Brad Pearce said. "We played so well, we couldn't close the door."

ASU vs. BYU Men's Tennis
Doubles
1) Nyman-Roshan (BYU) d. Colombo-Kinsella (ASU)       8-5
2) Dasek-Kaufhold (BYU) d. Stewart-Davies (ASU)       8-5
3) Letcher-McBride (ASU) d. Hand-Medina (BYU)         8-6
Singles
1) Erik Nyman (BYU) d. Andy Colombo (ASU)             6-4, 6-4
2) Chris Stewart (ASU) d. Richard Dasek (BYU)         6-1, 6-1
3) Clint Letcher (ASU) d. Christian Hand (BYU)        7-6 (4), 6-0
4) Jonathan Kinsella (ASU) d. Ivan Kokurin (BYU)      7-5, 6-3
5) Christopher Biro (ASU) d. Nima Roshan (BYU)        4-6, 6-1, 6-3
6) Ryan McBride (ASU) d. Alonso Medina (BYU)          6-4, 6-4

PROVO -- After a full week off, the BYU men's tennis team will face four teams in the next five days as they hit the road to take on UCSB (No. 72) on Saturday, Arizona State (No. 26) on Monday March 22, Stanford (No. 7) the following day and finish the road swing against California Berkeley (No. 23) on Wednesday March 24 respectively.

The Cougars look to take care of some unfinished business Saturday against the 6-4 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. In their last meeting against the Gauchos, BYU captured the doubles point just before the match was cancelled due to inclement weather. UCSB is on a four-match winning streak with recent wins over Yale and Utah State.

The 4-7 Sun Devils of Arizona State will be looking for a much-needed win against BYU when the Cougars come to Phoenix. The Sun Devils were blanked in their last two matches against No. 8 UCLA and NO. 4 USC.

Stanford's top doubles duo, Sam Warburg and All-American KC Corkery, is coming off a big win at the 115th annual Pacific Coast Doubles Championship capturing the consolation championship as the No. 3 seed. The Cardinal is 8-2 on the season.

As the BYU men's team rolls into Berkeley to finish it's four-match road trip, it will look to avenge its 5-0 loss to Cal Berkeley in the 2003 campaign.

"The key to our success in these matches will be winning the doubles points early," head coach Brad Pearce said. "I'm confident in our team's ability to win. We've had some tough losses, but we've also had some really close matches against some of the nation's top-ranked teams."

Despite their 1-10 record this season, the Cougars have played some of the top-ranked teams in the country, posting one of the toughest schedules in Division I Tennis.