BYU Men's Tennis Loses To No. 34 California

BERKELEY -- Despite a strong effort in doubles, the BYU men's tennis team lost 5-2 to California in a dual match in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday.

The Cougars started the match by winning the doubles point. The team of sophomore Gert Vilms and senior Damien Ward won the number one doubles point over No. 23 Erik Dmytruk and Scott Kintz 9-7. With the win Vilms and Ward, ranked No. 9 in the country, improved their record to 25-8 overall and 8-2 in dual matches.

BYU's Jeff Olsen and Dave White won the number three doubles match 8-5 over John Paul Fruttero and David Tzou. The win gave the Cougars the doubles point and started them on a good note.

Singles play, however, belonged to the Bears. Freshman Carlos Lozano was the only Cougar player to earn a win in singles. He defeated Hiro Nakamura 6-2, 6-2 in the number three singles match. Vilms lost the number one singles match to Dmytruk, who is ranked 59th in the country in singles, in a three-set thriller, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

The loss drops the Cougars record to 9-3 overall. They remain 3-0 in Mountain West Conference play. They will face No. 1 Stanford Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif.

Singles:

1. Erik Dmytruk (Cal) def. Gert Vilms, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

2. John Paul Fruttero (Cal) def. Damien Ward, 6-3, 6-2

3. Carlos Lozano (BYU) def. Hiro Nakamura, 6-2, 6-2

4. Robert Kowalczyk (Cal) def. Nic Losee, 6-2, 6-3

5. Scott Kintz (Cal) def. David White, 6-1, 6-1

6. Chris Lewis (Cal) def. Anton Rudjuk, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles:

1. Vilms/Ward (BYU) def. Dmytruk/Kintz, 9-7

2. Kowalczyk/Miles (Cal) def. Losee/Lozano, 8-5

3. Olsen/White (BYU) def. Fruttero/Tzou, 8-5