Nyman, Medina and Rudjuk Help Beat Denver, 4-3

PROVO -- In a dual match that came down to the last match of the day, the No. 66 BYU men's tennis team edged the University of Denver 4-3 on Saturday.

"This is a great win for us," said BYU head coach Jim Osborne. "I knew we were in for a battle, but our guys came out strong and really showed what they were made of."

The Cougars came out strong and captured the doubles point by winning two of the three doubles matches. Jose Lechuga and Anton Rudjuk overpowered Jason Tan and Hans Peter Gaber 8-2 at the No. 2 spot while Jeff Olsen and Alonso Medina beat Viktor Zetterholm and Colin Day 8-4 at No. 3. The 11th-ranked Carlos Lozano and Erik Nyman lost in a tough match at the No. 1 position to Urban Ljubic and Nejc Smole, 8-6.

"I thought we played really good doubles today," said Osborne. "Erik and Carlos haven't played in a real match in over a month so I thought they might come our a little rusty. But our goal was to win the doubles point and we were able to do that."

In singles, Nyman continued his tough play by beating Ljubic 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1. Denver was able to win the matches at the next three positions, but Medina won at No. 4 by beating Tan 6-4, 6-2. The result of the match came down to the No. 6 position. Rudjuk came back from one set down to surpass Day 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and claim the victory on behalf of the Cougars.

"I thought we played as well as we have all year against Denver," said Osborne. "We had a lot of energy and came out focused and ready to play."

The Cougars will be back in action next week as they travel to California to play UC Santa Barbara on Saturday (March 15).

No. 66 BYU def. University of Denver, 4-3
Doubles
Ljubic/Smole (DU) def. No. 11 Lozano/Nyman (BYU) 	8-6
Lechuga/Rudjuk (BYU) def. Tan/Gaber (DU)		        8-2
Medina/Olsen (BYU) def. Zetterholm/Day (DU)		     8-4
Singles
Erik Nyman (BYU) def. Urban Ljubic (DU) 			       6-3, 6-1
Nejc Smole (DU) def. Carlos Lozano (BYU)			       6-7, 6-4, 6-4
Hans Peter Gaber (DU) def. Jose Lechuga (BYU)		   6-3, 6-3
Viktor Zetterholm (DU) def. Jeff Olsen (BYU)		    4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Alonso Medina (BYU) def. Jason Tan (DU)			        6-4, 6-2
Anton Rudjuk (BYU) def. Colin Day (DU)			         4-6, 6-3, 6-3