Cougars Split Weekend Matches

LOS ANGELES -- The BYU men's tennis team ended the weekend with a 1-1 record after sweeping College of the Desert on Friday and falling 4-3 to Loyola Marymount on Saturday. With these matches the Cougars are now 5-2 on the season.

Playing at the LMU Tennis Center on Saturday, the Cougars failed to secure the doubles point, with their only winning performance coming from freshmen Thomas Shubert and A.J. Young (8-5).

"Losing the doubles point hurt us a little bit," said BYU head coach Brad Pearce. "In a 4-3 match, winning that point could have caused things to go the other way for us."

In singles, Tom Young was the first to score a point for BYU, easily defeating the Lions' Stefan Nikolic 6-0, 6-3. Shubert remained undefeated on the weekend, handing his LMU opponent a 6-3, 6-5 loss at the No. 2 position.

Cassidy Mears and Daniel Hwang both found themselves battling in three-set matches to try and claim the victory for BYU. After Mears fell (6-1, 4-6, 6-4) to Renzo Maggi, Hwang fought through leg cramps and pulled out an impressive 6-4, 1-6, 5-7 win. Despite his performance, it wasn't enough to save the Cougars.

"We had some great individual effort," said Pearce. "Unfortunately we didn't have enough team effort to get the win today."

Earlier on Friday, BYU's win over College of the Desert started with a successful doubles outing. Mears and Jonathan Sanchez, along with Shubert and A.J. Young helped claim the point for the Cougars.

Sanchez and Shubert pulled off tie-breaking wins in singles to contribute to BYU's sweep. Hwang, Mears and A.J. Young made quick work of their COD opponents, holding them to winning no more than two games in their respective matches. After the results of the match were already decided, Evan Urbina's opponent withdrew due to injury.

"This match was good for us to be able to get used to playing outdoors again and in the slower conditions that come when playing at sea-level," said Pearce. "It's just one more match under our belt and another win."

Up next the Cougars have Sunday off as they prepare to take on Azusa Pacific at 10:45 a.m. PT on Monday. The APU Cougars are entering the match unbeaten in their first six contests of the season.

RESULTS
No. 73 BYU - 3
Loyola Marymount - 4
February 16, 2008
Doubles
1.  Tadevosian/Maggi (LMU) def. Mears/Sanchez (BYU) 8-6
2.  Berhof/Twarowski(LMU) def. Hwang/Urbina (BYU) 8-6
3.  Shubert/A. Young (BYU) def. Lopez/Von Der Ahe (LMU) 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1.  J. Twarowski (LMU) def. J. Sanchez (BYU) 7-6, 6-2
2.  T. Shubert (BYU) def. S. Tadevosian (LMU) 6-3, 6-5
3.  I. Lopez (LMU) def. E. Urbina (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
4.  R. Maggi (LMU) def. C. Mears (BYU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
5.  D. Hwang (BYU) def. J. Berhof (LMU) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
6.  T. Young (BYU) def. S. Nikolic (LMU) 6-0, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 5