Cougars Suffer Season's First Loss

STANFORD -- The No. 71 BYU men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, a 7-0 sweep by No. 40 Stanford on Friday. The match was the Cougars' first contest away from Provo since the beginning of the spring season. With the loss, BYU falls to 3-1 on the season.

"We competed well today, even though the scores don't really show it," said BYU assistant coach Patrick Fisher. "Stanford is obviously a good team, with four of their players ranked in the top 100. It's been a few weeks since we last played, so we had some adjustments to make."

Playing in the last match of the day, freshman Daniel Hwang faced the Cardinal's Kevin Kaiser at the No. 5 position. After falling 6-7 in the first set, Hwang battled back to win the second (6-3), but eventually dropped the tiebreaker.

Senior Jonathan Sanchez, returning from an ankle injury sustained in the first match of the season, fell to No. 75 Richard Wire (6-1, 6-1). Playing at the No. 1 position, Thomas Shubert also lost to a tough opponent, Alex Clayton, the second-ranked player in the country.

The Cougars fell behind early, losing all three of their doubles matches, allowing Stanford to capture the point.

"We'll be ready to go tomorrow and expect a better day," said Fisher. "Our main focus is to always improve and get better. We always want to be a better team tomorrow than we were today."

BYU will remain in state to take on Santa Clara at 12 p.m. PT on Saturday. Live stats can be accessed here.

RESULTS
No. 40 Stanford vs. No. 70 BYU
Taube Family Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif. - 02/8/08
Final Score: Stanford 7 - BYU 0
Singles Results: Stanford 6 -- BYU 0
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3, 6, 4, 5
1) #2 Alex Clayton (S) d. Thomas Shubert (BYU), 6-0, 6-3
2) #75 Richard Wire (S) d. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU), 6-1, 6-1
3) #96 Matt Bruch (S) d. Evan Urbina (BYU), 6-2, 6-1
4) Blake Muller (S) d. Cassidy Mears (BYU), 6-3, 6-2
5) Kevin Kaiser (S) d. Daniel Hwang (BYU), 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3)
6) Greg Hirshman (S) d. Tom Young (BYU), 6-3, 6-0
Doubles Results: Stanford captures the doubles point
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
1) Muller/Clayton (S) d. Mears/Sanchez (BYU), 8-6
2) Bruch/Kelly (S) d. Hwang/Urbina (BYU), 8-3
3) Greg Hirshman/Wire (S) d. Shubert/Young (BYU), 8-4