No. 73 Cougars Challenge No. 4 UCLA

PROVO -- The No. 73 BYU men's tennis team lost its third match in a row Friday to No. 4 UCLA, 7-0. Despite the loss, the team still feels good about the way it played. The Cougars finish their three-game road trip Saturday at UC Santa Barbara.

"I was disappointed about yesterday's loss to Irvine," BYU head coach and UCLA alum Brad Pearce. "It was a winnable match for us. The players just didn't get it done when they needed to. Today we played better tennis, but it was against a far superior team than yesterday."

The Cougars had a strong showing in the doubles competition despite losing all three matches. Dominik Kaufhold and James Ludlow lost 8-5 at the No. 1 spot to Philipp Gruendler and No. 5 Benjamin Kohlloeffel. BYU's Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez lost 8-6 to Haythem Abid and Michael Look while Cassidy Mears and Michael Eraso, playing in his first match of the season, lost 8-4 to No. 18 Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean.

Despite the loss, Pearce was still positive about his team's performance against one of the top teams in the nation.

"Kohlloeffel won the NCAA championship last year," Pearce said. "He is one of the best players in college tennis and Ludlow played a pretty good match against him. I was happy to see that."

Cale Planck did not play because of soreness in his elbow and Pearce was not sure if Planck would be ready to play in Saturday's match. With only one match left in the three-match trip, Pearce and his team are anxious to come home with at least one win under their belts.

"The bottom line is that the California schools are tough," Pearce said. "The scouting report I got on Santa Barbara says they're much improved. I think we're going to be in for a battle tomorrow. We have to play as good if not better than we did today to have a shot."

BYU will be back at home on Friday when they host Northern Arizona University and the University of San Francisco in a doubleheader. The first match will begin at 11 a.m. at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts with the second match following at 5 p.m. BYU "Y" lot parking is available to visitors after 4 p.m. and admission to all BYU tennis matches is free.

Match Results

Men's Tennis

BYU at UCLA

1/26/07

Doubles

1. Gruendler/Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. Kaufhold/Ludlow (BYU) 8-5

2. Abid/Look (UCLA) def. Hand/Sanchez (BYU) 8-6

3. (18) Mathieu Dehaine /Drean (UCLA) def. Eraso/Mears (BYU) 8-4

Singles

1. (5) Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. James Ludlow (BYU) 6-1, 6-4

2. Haythem Abid (UCLA) def. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) 6-0, 6-3

3. (27) Chris Surapol (UCLA) def. Christian Hand (BYU) 6-1, 6-2

4. Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) 6-3, 6-4

5. Jeremy Drean (UCLA) def. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 6-0, 6-1

6. Michael Look (UCLA) def. Michael Eraso (BYU) 6-1, 6-3

Order of Finish: 5, 3, 6, 2, 1, 4 --- Final Score: UCLA 7, BYU 0