San Diego, Calif. (April 2, 2005)--The Cougar men's tennis team went down fighting against San Diego State, 4-3, in a hard fought battle early Saturday at the SDSU Tennis Stadium.
During warm-up, Shane LaPorte, BYU's number three player, split his eye open with his racket after a hard swing. Trainers quickly worked to patch up his eye before the match began.
In doubles action, the BYU pair of Chip Hand and LaPorte lost, 8-4.
"I could tell after his match that Shane wasn't at his best," head BYU coach Brad Pearce said. "He said he felt dizzy and his reflexes were slower; I think that he incurred a mild concussion."
For the remaining doubles, number one Jose Lechuga and Nima Roshan evened the score by defeating the Aztec's Armando Carrascosa and Benedikt Stronk, 8-5. Dominik Kaufhold and James Ludlow swung hard for an 8-3 win, assuring the doubles point to the Cougars.
Coach Pearce had made the decision to take LaPorte out for the remainder of the match and therefore had to move up the rest of the Cougars to fill his number three spot.
But BYU starting the singles with 1-0 wasn't going to give up easy, even without LaPorte. At number five, BYU's Jonathan Sanchez won his first set against Aztec Dontia Haynes, 6-3. Unfortunately, Haynes was able to come back with 6-0 in the second set and 7-3(3) in the third, giving the Aztecs the point.
Number three Cougar Jeff Das, who had moved up to take LaPorte's spot, easily defeated SDSU's Carrascosa in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, again putting BYU in the lead. Ludlow won the number two spot with a nail-biting tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7).
Aztec Chris Groh won at number four against Hand, 7-5, 6-2. And in another teeth-clenching tiebreaker, SDSU's Daniel Jung came out on top of Kaufhold, 6-2, 7-6(2). Number one Stronk won with another tiebreaker against Roshan, 7-6(2), 6-4, securing the Aztec win.
"It's almost more difficult to lose when it is so close," Pearce said. "But we didn't give up. San Diego State is a good team and we don't want them to think that we are easy to beat."
The Cougar men have a small breather before taking on the University of Utah on home courts this Thursday, April 7, at noon.
San Diego State 4, #58 Brigham Young 3
at SDSU Tennis Stadium
Doubles
1. Lechuga-Roshan (BYU) def. Stronk-Carrascosa (SDSU), 8-5
2. Kaufhold-Ludlow (BYU) def. Jung-Haynes (SDSU), 8-3
3. Dickhardt-Romero (SDSU) def. Hand-LaPorte (BYU), 8-4
Brigham Young wins doubles point
Singles
1. Benedikt Stronk (SDSU) def. Nima Roshan (BYU), 7-6(2), 6-4
2. James Ludlow (BYU) def. Markus Dickhardt (SDSU), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7)
3. Jeff Das (BYU) def. Armando Carrascosa (SDSU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Chris Groh (SDSU) def. Christian Hand (BYU), 7-5, 6-2
5. Dontia Haynes (SDSU) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU), 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(3)
6. Daniel Jung (SDSU) def. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU), 6-2, 7-6(2)