Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 27, 2007) Despite being down 1-0 heading into singles play, the Cougar men's tennis team came back to upset MWC Regular Season Champion San Diego State 4-3, Friday. BYU advances to the title game on Saturday at 2 p.m., to face the winner of the semifinal match between UNLV and TCU.
Once again the win came down to the no. 1 singles match where senior James Ludlow played a three set match and came from behind to defeat Markus Dickhardt of SDSU 0-6, 6-2, 6-3. Dickhardt was ranked 38th in singles competition entering this week's conference championship.
"James played another great match for us," said head coach Brad Pearce. "He got down early and came back and it was another exciting match to watch."
After losing doubles the team fought back to tie the match 3-3 with straight set wins at no. 2 and no. 3 singles. Junior Jonathan Sanchez played in a three set match at no. 4 singles to defeat the Aztecs' Achim Ceban 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 and that got the score tied. SDSU had won the no. 5 and 6 singles matches in straight sets.
"We regrouped, and battled back after doubles. We've established ourselves among the people here with a reputation for being great fighters to be able to come back from being down to get the win," added coach Pearce.
Senior Chip Hand defeated Christian Groh 6-3, 6-4 while the other senior on the team, Dominik Jaufhold, beat Anthony Gomez 6-4, 6-3.
"I'm also very proud of our three seniors and our junior. They all stayed focused, played well and cam through for us when we needed them to," said Pearce.
BYU improves to 13-13 on the year while no. 49 San Diego State dropped to 16-8. The winner of Saturday's title game gets an automatic bid in to the 2007 Div. I Men's Tennis Championships, which begin on May 12.
BYU-4; SDSU-3
Doubles:
1.Ludlow/Kaufhold, BYU def. Dickhardt/Groh, SDSU 8-3
2.Ceban/Timu, SDSU def. Hand/Sanchez, BYU 9-8 (6)
3.A. Gomez/Sabo, SDSU def. Mears/Planck, BYU 8-5
SDSU: Lead 1-0 after doubles.
Singles:
1.James Ludlow, BYU def. Markus Dickhardt, SDSU 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 *
2.Chip Hand, BYU def. Christian Groh, SDSU 6-3, 6-4
3.Dominik Kaufhold, BYU def. Anthony Gomez 6-4, 6-3
4.Jonathan Sanchez, BYU def. Achim Ceban, SDSU 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
5.Juan Gomez, SDSU def. Cassidy Mears, BYU 4-6, 3-6
6.Robert Sabo, SDSU def. Cale Planck, BYU 6-7 (5), 2-6
* Clinched the BYU win.