Los Angeles, Calif. (November, 6th 2004) The men's tennis team was sizzling down in sunny southern California this weekend as they posted huge wins and near upsets against the country's best teams.
"We really turned some heads this weekend," said head coach Brad Pearce. "BYU is really starting to make a name for itself."
In the final day of the Southern California Intercollegiates tournament, BYU was a few games away from an all BYU doubles final, but the prize slipped away. BYU's duo of Kaufhold/Ludlow nearly beat the tournament's number one doubles seed and top ten ranked duo, UCLA's Francis/Kwinta , but ended up losing the tight match 9-7. BYU's other semifinals duo of Lechuga/Roshan met similar fate to the tournament's fourth seed. UCLA's team of Kashiwabara/Morton sneaked by BYU 9-8, setting up an all UCLA doubles finals.
While they didn't win it all, for BYU the tournament was a success and a great way to end the fall campaign. Earlier in the tournament Jeff Das beat the country's 34th ranked singles player in the quterfinals, while Nima Roshan almost upset the tournament's number one seed in the sweet sixteen.
"We couldn't have had a better end to the fall," Coach Pearce said. "I am really pleased with the effort that our team gave."
That effort also included Jonthan Sanchez's near upset of Alabama's top 25 ranked Luigi D'Agord and Kaufhold, Das and Lechuga's singles wins over high ranking UCLA players--last year's second ranked team with everybody returning.
"I mean things could have gone better, sure a point here and a point there and we could have been in the finals in doubles, but overall I feel really good about it," Pearce said. "I think the wins give our guys some confidence, knowing they can compete with the country's best.
This was the Cougar's last fall tournament; they open up the regular season January 16th at home against Weber State and Utah State.
Tournament Results:
First Round (64)
Shane LaPorte def. Andrew Bertolina (USF) 6-0:6-1
James Ludlow def. Gordon Hong (APU) 6-3.7-6
Jonathan Sanchez def. Adam Davidson (APU) 6-4.6-4
Chip Hand (BYE)
Nima Roshan def. Chrstian Frick (UC Riverside) 6-1,6-4
Dominik Kaufold def (USCB) Andres Dalskov 6-4,6-3
Jose Lechuga def. Tom Jelsma (APU) 7-5,6-1
Second Round
K. Van't hof (USC) def. Shane LaPorte 7-5,7-6
K. Borzenki (Pep.) def. James Ludlow 6-4,6-4
Jonathan Sanchez def. B, Berglund (LMU) 7-5,7-6
Chip Hand def, A Rafidison (PEP) 6-1,6-3
Nima Roshan def B. Swwatt (UCSD) 6-3,6-4
Dominik Kaufold def N. Tam (UC Riverside) 6-3,2-6,10-8
Jose Lechuga def L. Cicenas (LMU) 6-4,6-2
Main Draw (singles)
Round of 32
Nima Roshan def. Billy Mertz (Alabama) 6-4,6-2
P. Pires de Almeida (USF) def. Chip Hand 6-4,6-2
Kris Kwinta (UCLA) def. Dominik Kaufhold 6-2,2-6,6-1
Luigi D'Agord (Alabama) def. Sanchez 7-6,5-7,7-6.
Jose Lechuga def. Jeremy Dean (UCLA) 7-5,6-4
Jeff Das def. Jason Nguyen (UCLA) 6-0,6-3
Round of 16
L. Pampoulov (UCLA) def. Nima Roshan 7-6,6-3
A. Sigurdsson (UOP) def, Jose Lechuga 4-6,7-6,6-4
Jeff Das def. A. Francis (UCLA) 7-6,2-6,6-2
Quarterfinals
A. Sigurdsson (UOP) def. Das 6-4,6-3
Doubles
Qualifying Rounds (64)
Round 1:
Kaufhold/Ludlow def Malet/Politanoff (LMU) 8-6
Dass/Sanchez vs. BYE
Hand/LaPorte vs. BYE
Round 2:
Kaufhold/Ludlow def. Dehaine/Drean 8-5
Dass/Sanchez def. Oijala/Spector (UCSD) 8-1
Brody/Dalskov (UCSB) def. Hand/LaPorte 8-3
Round of 16
Kaufhold/Ludlow def. Berglund/Phillips (LMU) 8-4
Lechuga/Roshan def. Cicenas/Wojnarowicz (LMU) 8-5
Das/Sanchez def. Gruendler/Lam (UCLA) (inj)
Quarterfinals
Kaufhold/Ludlow def. Loucks/Wright (USC) 8-6
Lechuga/Roshan def. Das/Sanchez 8-3
Semifinals
Francis/Kwinta (UCLA) def. Kaufhold/Ludlow 9-7
Kashiwabara/Morton (UCLA) def. Lechuga/Roshan 8-3