MALIBU -- The No. 63 BYU men's tennis team (2-3) finished its week-long tour of the West Coast on a low note Friday, losing 6-1 to the No. 9 Pepperdine Waves (6-0). The Cougars went 0-3 on their first road trip of the season.

Senior Ivan Kokurin, who has played very well against the California schools this week, scored the lone point for BYU. He began his singles match well, playing strong tennis against Pepperdine's Denis Reinart and taking the first set 6-4. Kokurin was ready to move on to set two, but Reinart chose to retire his side and ceded the victory to Kokurin.

Although Kokurin scored the only point for BYU, his was not the only match the Cougars won. In the doubles set, Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez did their job well, beating Kevin Borzenski and Richard Johnson 8-5 to give BYU a shot at stealing the doubles point. However, the boys in blue lost the other two doubles sets and gave the first point of the match to Pepperdine.

From that point on it was all Peppperdine. The Waves played up to their No. 9 national ranking, winning four of their five singles points in straight sets. Pepperdine was lead by Scott Doerner, who posted a 7-5, 6-1 win over James Ludlow on court No. 1. For BYU, Chip Hand did his best to keep the Cougars in it, facing Richard Johnson and taking his first set 5-7. His opponent stormed back, though, taking the second set convincingly 6-3 and setting up a ten-point tiebreaker. Johnson went on to win the tiebreaker and take the match 5-7, 6-3, 10-6.

BYU will now make its way home to play an Alumni Match Feb. 4. The Cougars will then host two matches against Santa Clara and Boise State on Feb. 10 and 11:00. The Alumni Match begins at 12 p.m., and the matches with Santa Clara and Boise State will start at 5 p.m. Those two matches will be played at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.

RESULTS
BYU vs Pepperdine
Jan 27, 2006
Malibu, California
 #9 Pepperdine 6, #63 BYU 1
  Singles competition
1. Scott Doerner (PEP) def. James Ludlow (BYU) 7-5, 6-1
2. Ivor Lovrak (PEP) def. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Richard Johnson (PEP) def. Chip Hand (BYU) 5-7, 6-3, 10-6
4. Andre Begemann (PEP) def. Jose Lechuga (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Ivan Kokurin (BYU) def. Denis Reinert (PEP) 6-4, retired
6. Omar Altmann (PEP) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Scott Doerner/Andre Begemann (PEP) def. JoseLechuga/JamesLudlow(BYU) 8-3
2. Chip Hand/Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) def. Kevin Borzenski/Richard Johnson (PEP) 8-5
3. Ivor Lovrak/Omar Altmann (PEP) def. Dominik Kaufhold/Ivan Kokurin (BYU) 8-3
Match Notes:
Pepperdine 6-0; National ranking #9

PROVO, Utah (Jan.23, 2006) -- The No. 63 BYU men's tennis team will stay on the road this week, leaving the ice and snow of Utah for sunny California. The Cougars will compete against Santa Barbara, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 9 Pepperdine during their tour of the West Coast.

The Cougars know what they are up against in facing these perennial powerhouses this early in the season, but Coach Brad Pearce said he is excited to play tough opponents because playing against the best competition makes his team that much better. He said tough early matches will give the team an advantage late in the season and in conference play, as each team in the Mountain West finished last season nationally ranked.

BYU begins play Monday against Santa Barbara, then plays Wednesday against UCLA and faces Pepperdine on Friday. All matches begin at 1:30 PST.