Men's Tennis Heads to Harvard

PROVO -- With two wins under its belt, the No. 62 BYU men’s tennis team will hit the road this week to participate in the Harvard Kick-Off Tournament in Cambridge, Mass. The two-day tourney will feature No. 61 Harvard, DePaul and No. 67 Mississippi State.

“This weekend will be a good test to see where we’re at,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said.

Play for the Cougars begins Friday against the host team. The Crimson spent last week at the Virginia Tech Tournament where the players combined to pick up 16 wins. BYU and Harvard have met only once before with the Cougars taking the match.

Later that day, the squad will take on MSU in singles. The doubles portion of that match will follow Saturday. The Bulldogs have two singles players ranked in the ITA polls with George Coupland coming in at No. 42 and Artem Ilyushin grabbing the No. 125 spot. State began the season with a close 4-3 loss to Ole Miss last week. The match will mark the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Cougars.

Saturday brings the 3-0 Blue Demons of DePaul. The team kicked off the spring facing in-state opponents UIC, University of Chicago and Northern Illinois. In those matches, the Blue Demons racked up one sweep and two 6-1 victories. BYU has played DePaul only once, a 4-2 win at last year’s HEB Invitational in Texas.

“We play three talented teams and we hope to come back 3-0,” Pearce said.

BYU will open tournament play Friday at noon ET at the Murr Center.