PROVO -- The 72nd-ranked BYU men's tennis team clinched two more wins today by defeating the University of the Pacific 5-2 and Weber State 7-0 in a final home match double header.
The Cougars began the day with three tough doubles matches against Pacific. Clinching the doubles point for BYU was Richard Dasek and Dominik Kaufhold at the No. 2 position as they were down two sets but came from behind to win the tiebreaker, giving the Cougars the 1-0 lead.
BYU split the doubles matches at Nos. 1 and 3 with Alonzo Medina and Chip Hand beating their opponents 8-1 and Erik Nyman and Nima Roshan falling in a tough 8-5 match at the top spot.
In singles the Cougars came through strong at the bottom four courts to beat the Tigers. Hand, Roshan, Ivan Kokurin and Medina all had wins over their opponents to lead BYU to the victory.
Against Weber State the judges decided to move the match indoors due to the cold weather. The Cougars got ahead of the Wildcats early by winning the doubles point. BYU won at all three doubles positions to take the advantage.
Coach Pearce made some adjustments in the line up for the singles play, putting freshman Hand at the No. 1 position in place of the usual Nyman. Nyman had some minor back pains following the doubles match.
Hand seemed rather comfortable playing at the No. 1 spot as he took the first set against Weber State's top seed, Jonathan Engelbrect, of South Africa and blanked him in the second, winning the match in straight sets. Hand is 7-9 on the season in singles play.
Aside from Hand's win at the No. 1 singles spot, the Cougars also saw wins from Roshan, Kokurin, Medina, Kaufhold and freshman Ian Fillmore.
In perhaps the toughest match of the day, Fillmore fought to defeat his cousin Spencer Marchant of Salt Lake City. Fillmore took the first set but dropped the second as Marchant fought back numerous times, making it difficult for the BYU freshman to close the deal. The two battled back and forth with Fillmore finally closing the gap in a 10-8 third set tiebreaker.
"It seems that everything we've worked for all season is starting to bear fruit," head coach Brad Pearce said. "The guys are beginning to show how much this means to them. They really came together and played as a team for these wins."
The Cougars next three matches will be in Salt Lake City on April 15-18 against Utah, Air Force and New Mexico respectively. All matches will be played at noon on the University of Utah tennis home courts.
BYU 5, Pacific 2Doubles:
Maack/Sigurdsson (Pac) def. Nyman/Roshan (BYU) 8-5
Dasek/Kaufhold (BYU) def. Zdravkovic/Otte (Pac) 9-8
Hand/Medina (BYU) def. Duong/Black (Pac) 8-4
BYU wins the doubles point
Singles:
Lennart Maack (Pac) def. Erik Nyman (BYU) 6-4, 5-7 (10-3)
Arnar Sigurdsson (Pac) def. Richard Dasek (BYU) 7-6, 6-2
Chip Hand (BYU) def. Michael Duong (Pac) 4-6, 7-6 (10-5)
Nima Roshan (BYU) def. Vladimir Zdravkovic (Pac) 6-4, 6-4
Ivan Kokurin (BYU) def. Miclas Otte (Pac) 6-3, 6-0
Alonzo Medina (BYU) def. Tyler Black (Pac) 6-3, 6-2
BYU 7, Weber State 0
Doubles:
Nyman/Roshan (BYU) def. Engelbrecht/Marchant (W) 8-3
Dasek/Kaufhold (BYU) def. Rideout/Andrew Corlett (W) 8-0
Hand/Medina (BYU) def. Saberon/Covington (W) 8-5
BYU wins the doubles point
Singles:
Chip Hand (BYU) def. Jonathan Engelbrecht (W) 6-2, 6-0
Nima Roshan (BYU) def. Mathis Saberon (W) 6-4, 2-0 (Saberon Injury)
Ivan Kokurin (BYU) def Travis Covington (W) 6-2, 6-3
Alonzo Medina (BYU) def. Zach Rideout (W) 6-3, 6-3
Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) v. Daniel Abeaboeru (W) 6-2, 6-2
Ian Fillmore (BYU) def. Spencer Marchant (W) 6-4, 3-6 (10-8)
