PROVO -- The Cougars made their presence known nationally as the preseason edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings were released Tuesday afternoon.
As a team, the men's tennis team received 334 official ITA Committee votes and a ranking of 61 in the ITA while the women's team climbed to No. 45 with 711 votes.
Senior Erik Nyman received 118 votes to jump from 99 to No. 80. As a duo, Nyman and Richard Dasek earned a ranking of 43 for doubles while teammates Jose Lechuga and Nima Roshan received an impressive 118 votes to post a 22 on the ranking chart.
Representing the women's team, senior Barbora Zahnova dropped from No. 32 to 43.
Head coaches for both the men and women's teams said the rankings were fair because they left room for improvement this season. Both teams have a goal to finish the 2004 campaign among the top 25 teams.
"I was glad to see that BYU was well represented in the preseason rankings," men's head coach, Brad Pearce said. "I'm excited for the players, but we've got a lot of work to do to reach our goal."
"Overall I'm pleased with our team," women's head coach, Craig Manning said.