Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 28, 2007) The fifth-seeded Cougar men's team began the title game of the 2007 Men's Tennis Championships with an early 1-0 edge by winning two of the three doubles matches, but it would not be enough as third-seeded UNLV came back with 4 singles victories to get the 4-1 victory.
The loss puts BYU's record at 14-14 on the year. Prior to Saturday's loss, the Cougars had been on a four-game winning streak and had upset No. 4 seed New Mexico on Thursday and No. 1 seed San Diego State on Friday.
The Cougars no. 2 team of Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez opened with an 8-3 victory over UNLV's Jonathan Hooper and Wesley Burrows. Then Cassidy Mears and Cale Planck playing no. 3 doubles for BYU defeated Slavko Bijelica and David Campbell 8-6.
"We played great doubles and had lots of energy and emotion," said Cougar coach Brad Pearce. "UNLV is a good team with talented players and we just weren't quite as sharp in our singles matches. But, I'm very proud of our players and how well we competed at these championships."
UNLV tied it up 1-1 with a singles win at the no. 2 spot where Slavko Bijelica of UNLV defeated BYU's Chip Hand, 7-5, 6-1. The Rebels would go ahead with straight set wins at no. 1, 4 and 6 singles to clinch the 4-1 victory.
BYU- 1; UNLV- 4
Doubles:
1.Hunter/Wronski, UNLV def. Kaufhold/Ludlow BYU - 8-5
2.Hand/Sanchez, BYU def. Hooper/Burrows, UNLV - 8-3
3.Mears/Planck, BYU def. Bijelica/Campbell, UNLV - 8-6
BYU takes 1-0 lead with doubles point
Singles:
1.Elliot Wronski, UNLV, def. James Ludlow, BYU -- 7-6 (5), 6-3
2.Slavko Bijelica, UNLV, def. Chip Hand, BYU -- 7-5, 6-1
3.Wesley Burrows, UNLV; Dominik Kaufhold, BYU -- 7-6, 6-6 (DNF)
4.Brett Hunter, UNLV, def. Jonathan Sanchez, BYU -- 6-2, 7-5
5.David Campbell, UNLV; Cassidy Mears, BYU -- 6-7 (6)_ 3-2 (DNF)
6.Luca Barlocchi, UNLV, def. Cale Planck, BYU 6-4, 6-2.