PROVO -- Friday was another day of tough action at the Utah Fall Tennis Classic at Brigham Young University as many Cougar teammates faced off and the best of the best emerged from the ranks to solidify their place in the semifinals in both singles and doubles competition.
Cougar tennis players Chip Hand and Michael Eraso faced off early in the day in an intense and close battle. Eraso won the first set 7-6 and went up 3-2 early in the second. Hand was obviously irritated with his own performance as he yelled at himself "you're giving him the game." Although Hand was down, he was not out. After the game, Eraso said that once Hand calmed down his confidence started to build and Hand came back to win the next two sets 7-5,7-5.
"It's always fun to play people on your team," said BYU senior James Ludlow. "You really get to know their inner desire."
Other BYU matches featured freshman big-server Cale Planck upsetting the No. 1 seeded Ludlow 6-4, 7-6 and Jonathan Sanchez beating Cougar new-comer Cassidy Mears 6-4, 6-4.
"James is such a class act," Planck said after the match. "He's tough and he realyy makes you play. It is really fun to play against him."
Intra-team competition was not limited to the singles as Coaches Brad Pearce and Dan Battistone faced off against Eraso and Planck in the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament. Experience proved more valuable than strength as the coaches defeated their pupils, 8-6.
Saturday's singles competition will feature more teammate competition with Boise State's Blake Boswell facing teammate Eric Roberson in the semi finals. The winner of that match will face either Planck or BYU team-manager Brian Battistone, who will also face each other.
In the doubles competition, Pearce and Dan Battistone will face Boswell and Roberson in the semifinals and Cougars Ludlow and Dominik Kaufhold will face off against Weber State's Mancarella and Kienhe.
Play will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. All matches are open to the public and admission is free. The BYU outdoor tennis courts are located just south of the Smith Fieldhouse and the entrance is on the east side. All BYU parking lots are open to the public all day Saturday.
The event is sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association and each athlete participating will receive a USTA ranking at the end of the event. However, the event is not sanctioned by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association meaning the competition is not considered in NCAA or conference rankings or play. College athletes who participate do so as individuals and not as representatives of their respective schools.