LAS -- The BYU men's tennis team lost its second consecutive Mountain West Conference match on Friday after falling 6-1 to a tough No. 31 TCU team. The Cougars are now 12-9 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.

To start the match, the Horned Frogs came out to a quick start; posting doubles wins on all three courts to claim the doubles point. Jonathan Sanchez and A.J. Young fell 8-1 to the No.45-ranked duo in the country, Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet.

"[TCU] just played a lot better than we did to start the match in doubles," said BYU head coach Brad Pearce. "I was really proud of our guys in singles. We fought hard. For a period of time we were battling on four courts and all of those matches were really close. Everybody dug in and kept fighting and challenging. I loved the way we competed today."

Playing at the No. 3 position, sophomore Cassidy Mears forced BYU's only three-set match of the day, but fell 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Evan Urbina and Daniel Hwang also suffered tough losses on the fourth and fifth courts, respectively.

The Cougars only win came at the No. 6 position when Young defeated TCU's Jack Seider 6-2, 7-6. The freshman has won all three of his singles matches this week.

"A.J. [Young's] been doing a great job for us," said Pearce. "He's competed in every match and his confidence is rising. He's going out and expecting to win, which is a good thing."

Sanchez and No. 29 Cotet faced off again for the second time on the day, with Sanchez losing 6-1, 6-0. Freshman Thomas Shubert also dropped a straight set match on court two (6-3, 6-0).

BYU will play one more match on Saturday before returning home to Provo. The team is scheduled to face Air Force on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.

RESULTS
No. 31 TCU def. BYU, 6-1
March 28, 2008 - Provo, Utah
Doubles
1. #45 Brink/Cotet (TCU) def. Sanchez/Young (BYU) 8-1 
2. Simon/Brighiu (TCU) def. Hwang/Shubert (BYU) 8-4 
3. Nichols/Seider (TCU) def. Mears/Urbina (BYU) 8-4 
Singles 
1. #29 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) 6-1, 6-0 
2. Emanu Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 6-3, 6-0 
3. Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 
4. Adrian Simon (TCU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-3, 7-6 
5. Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU) 6-4, 6-2 
6. AJ Young (BYU) def. Jack Seider (TCU) 6-2, 7-6

PROVO -- The BYU men's tennis team heads to Las Vegas this weekend to open Mountain West Conference play against UNLV, No. 31 TCU and Air Force. After suffering a 4-3 home loss to UC Irvine on Tuesday, the Cougars hope to improve on their 12-7 record.

The Rebels of UNLV are coming off a 7-0 loss to No. 40 California last week, falling to 6-8 on the year. BYU dropped both of its matches against the Rebels last season, once in the regular season and once at the conference tournament.

TCU is currently 13-5 overall this season and is led by senior Cosmin Cotet, who is ranked No. 29 in singles play. Cotet is also nationally ranked at No. 45 with doubles partner Kriegler Brink. The Horned Frogs remains unbeaten against BYU, holding a 6-0 advantage in the series record.

The Air Force Academy enters the weekend with a 10-8 overall record, after winning its final home match of the season against University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The Cougars are scheduled to play UNLV at 2 p.m. PT on Thursday. BYU will then face TCU and Air Force at 10 a.m. PT on Friday and Saturday, respectively. All matches will be played at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.