Cougars Compete Hard, Lose to No. 4 USC

LOS ANGELES -- In the middle match of a tough West Coast swing, the No. 60 BYU men's tennis team played well in singles but lost to No. 4 Southern Cal, 5-2. The Cougars (1-5, 0-0) were hoping to get a boost from their usually strong doubles play, but they lost the doubles point to the Trojans and couldn't recover enough in singles play.

"We really felt like if we could start with that doubles point, we could maybe sneak up on them a bit," BYU assistant coach Brad Pearce said. "We've played them before so we knew what to expect."

BYU made a valiant comeback effort in singles play, led by Carlos Lozano's convincing win at the No. 2 spot. Lozano got revenge over Ryan Moore for a rare loss in doubles by winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. BYU's other singles victory came from Nic Losee at the No. 5. Losee, who had previously played the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, won 7-5, 6-4 in his first match at the position. Despite the loss, the Cougars continue to improve by playing stiff competition and preparing for the Mountain West Conference season.

"Obviously you're never satisfied unless you're winning, but we're getting better," Pearce said. "We want to be peaking for the conference season."

The Cougars conclude their road trip by playing UC Irvine Wednesday afternoon. BYU will return home and play one week later against Utah State to begin a long homestand.

FINAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

No. 1 Moore/Rainey(USC) def. No. 10 Lozano/Vilms (BYU) 9-7

No. 2 Armitraj/Langre (USC) def. Harbach/Olsen (BYU) 9-7

No. 3 Park/Spizzo (USC) def. Losee/Nyman (BYU) 8-5

USC WINS DOUBLES POINT

SINGLES

No. 1 Andrew Park (USC) def. Gert Vilms (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

No. 2 Carlos Lozano (BYU) def. Ryan Moore (USC) 6-4, 6-4

No. 3 Prakash Armitraj (USC) def. Erik Nyman (BYU) 7-6, 6-3

No. 4 Daniel Langre (USC) def. Anton Rudjuk (BYU) 6-4, 7-5

No. 5 Nic Losee (BYU) def. Damien Spizzo (USC) 7-5, 6-4

No. 6 Ruben Torres (USC) def. Jeff Harbach (BYU) 6-0, 6-2