SACRAMENTO -- The No. 62 BYU men's tennis team won its first of three road matches in California by knocking off Sacramento State 5-2 Monday afternoon. The Cougars won the doubles point by taking two of three matches and went on to win four more singles matches to easily defeat the Hornets. The Cougars have now won six straight matches.
Jeff Harbach and Jeff Olsen assumed the No. 1 position in doubles with Carlos Lozano not playing, but lost to Jones/Zaher, 8-5. Nic Losee and Erik Nyman continued their torrid play, winning their fifth straight doubles match while playing at the No. 2 spot. Jose Luis Lechuga and Gert Vilms, playing together for the first time in a competitive match, overpowered Price/Sheehan at No. 3, 8-2.
BYU also proved too much for Sacramento State to handle in singles play. Nyman stepped up and played No. 2, winning when Fabio Jesus retired in the second set. Losee won for the seventh straight time in dominating fashion at the No. 3 spot, 6-3, 6-1. Anton Rudjuk returned to action and won at No.4 in three sets. Harbach finished out BYU's scoring at No. 6, 6-3, 6-2. BYU's two losses came in third-set tiebreakers, with Vilms losing at No. 1 and Olsen losing at No. 6.
The Cougars battle No. 20 California Tuesday and No. 6 Stanford Wednesday. The match against Cal will be a rematch of NCAA Tournament play from 2001, when the Bears narrowly defeated the Cougars.
FINAL RESULTS
DOUBLES
No. 1 Jones/Zaher (SSU) def. Harbach/Olsen (BYU) 8-5
No. 2 Losee/Nyman (BYU) def. Farkus/Jesus (SSU) 8-4
No. 3 Lechuga/Vilms (BYU) def. Price/Sheehan (SSU) 8-2
BYU WINS DOUBLES POINT
SINGLES
No. 1 Sherif Zaher (SSU) def. Gert Vilms (BYU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6
No. 2 Erik Nyman (BYU) def. Fabio Jesus (SSU) 6-3, 3-3 ret.
No. 3 Nic Losee (BYU) def. Matthew Jones (SSU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 Anton Rudjuk (BYU) def. Nick Sheehan (SSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 5 Ali Abbou (SSU) def. Jeff Olsen (BYU) 7-6, 6-7, 7-6
No. 6 Jeff Harbach (BYU) def. Peter Farkus (SSU) 6-3, 6-2
BYU WINS MATCH 5-2