PROVO -- After a loss that came down to the wire on Tuesday at Washington, the BYU men's tennis team rebounded with two wins in a doubleheader versus the University of Portland and the University of Oregon Wednesday, improving the Cougars' record to 5-4 on the season.
"I couldn't be more proud of our guys," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "It was a grind of a trip. We had a tough game against Washington yesterday. We got out of there late and did not get here until midnight. We had to grind our match out against Portland and then come up against a young and tough Oregon team. James Ludlow won the clincher and it was good for his psyche. Jonathan Sanchez was five out of six on the weekend in singles and doubles combined. It was just a great team effort."
BYU got off to a slow start in the early match versus Portland by losing the doubles point. With a slight change in the lineup to put team captain Dominik Kaufhold in the No. 1 spot, the top four Cougars came out swinging to win their matches and seal the win. Kaufhold won his match and was joined by James Ludlow, Chip Hand, Jonathan Sanchez and Cassidy Mears with victories at the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 positions, respectively.
In the late match against Oregon, the Cougars started off much quicker by sweeping the doubles matches and took the one point advantage into the singles competition. However, the Ducks proved to be a more difficult match for the Cougars than the Pilots did earlier in the day. Oregon won the first two singles points as Kaufhold and Mears lost in straight sets at the Nos. 1 and 5 positions, respectively.
Sanchez was the next to finish his match and improved his record to 6-2 on the season with the Cougars' second point of the match. His doubles partner, Hand, followed close behind with a win of his own.
With a 3-2 lead and two matches unfinished, BYU only needed one victory to get the second team "W" on the day. Ludlow was up one set and the second went to a tiebreak for the team match. The fired-up Ludlow held strong at the No. 2 spot and won the tiebreak, 7-3, and the match, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
"It was a big physical and emotional win for us because I think everybody was running on fumes. It was tough competition, not to mention it was on the road. Our guys played tough in all three matches and it was great to see."
The Cougars next match will be at home on Feb. 23 against No. 55 Denver. BYU has a home record of 16-1 dating back to the 2004 season and looks to improve it against the Pioneers. A win against the Pioneers would make a strong case for the Cougars to get back into the national rankings. Admission to the match is free and BYU "Y" lot parking is open to the public after 4 p.m.
Match Results,
BYU 5, Portland 2
Doubles:
No. 1: Kaufhold/Ludlow (BYU) def. Filip Zivkovic/Colby Jager (PORT), 8-6
No. 2: Alex Strom/Charles Yemm (PORT) def. Hand/Sanchez (BYU), 8-5
No. 3: Joel Kincaid/Evan Schleining (PORT) def. Mears/Planck (BYU), 8-6
Singles:
No. 1: Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) def. Strom (PORT), 7-6 (7), 6-3
No. 2: James Ludlow (BYU) def. Zivkovic (PORT), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
No. 3: Chip Hand (BYU) def. Jager (PORT), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4: Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) def. Kincaid (PORT), 6-4, 6-2
No. 5: Yemm (PORT) def. Cale Planck (BYU), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6: Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Schleining (PORT), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
BYU 4, Oregon 3
Doubles
No. 1: Kaufhold/Ludlow (BYU) def. Embry/Cornelissen (UO) 8-4
No. 2: Hand/Sanchez (BYU) def. Verdasco/Gallardo (UO) 8-4
No. 3: Mears/Planck (BYU) def. Myrhed/Wiechert (UO) 8-4
BYU wins doubles point
Order of doubles finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
No. 1: Marcos Verdasco (UO) def. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 2: James Ludlow (BYU) def. Alexander Cornelissen (UO) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
No. 3: Chip Hand (BYU) def. Francisco Gallardo (UO) 7-6 (5), 6-3
No. 4: Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) def. Mike Myrhed (UO) 6-4, 6-2
No. 5: Geoff Embry (UO) def. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
No. 6: Eric Pickard (UO) def. Cale Planck (BYU) 7-6 (5), 4-6, (3)
Order of finish: 5, 1, 3, 4, 2, 6