PROVO -- After winning 4-3 yesterday, the BYU men's tennis team was on the losing side of a 4-3 match with No. 34 San Diego State on Friday.
The Cougars claimed the doubles point in what BYU head coach Jim Osborne called his team's best doubles performance of the year.
"We played awesome doubles today," said Osborne. "Winning the doubles point gave us a lot of momentum going into the singles matches. I'm really proud of our guys and the effort they put forth today. A coach couldn't ask for anything more of his team."
Jose Lechuga and Anton Rudjuk beat Felis Hardt and Daniel Jung 8-4 at No. 2 doubles while Jeff Olsen and Alonso Medina beat Armando Carrascosa and Will LaFevre 8-4 at No. 3. The eighteenth ranked Carlos Lozano and Erik Nyman took the top-ranked doubles team in the nation to a tiebreaker, but Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo were able to hold off the Cougars to win 9-7.
In singles, Osborne was particularly proud of the way the lower three positions played today. Olsen beat Jung 6-3, 7-6 at No. 4 and Medina defeated LaFevre 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6. With the match knotted at 3-3, the final outcome came down to the No. 5 spot. Carrascosa was able to edge out Rudjuk 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a tough three-set match that gave the Aztecs the victory.
"Today, it came down to the final match and that's what college tennis is all about," said Osborne. "I'm really proud of our guys and know that we will have another chance to beat them."
The Cougars will be back in action tomorrow as they play UNLV at 2 p.m. The match will be played indoors following the women's match with UNLV at 10 a.m.
No. 34 San Diego State def. No. 63 BYU 4-3
Doubles
Maiberger/Redondo (SDSU) def. Nyman/Lozano (BYU) 9-7
Lechuga/Rudjuk (BYU) def. Hardt/Jung (SDSU) 8-4
Olsen/Medina (BYU) def. Carroscosa/LaFevre (SDSU) 8-4
BYU wins doubles point 2-1
Singles
Oliver Maiberger (SDSU) def. Erik Nyman (BYU) 6-3, 6-2
Ryan Redondo (SDSU) def. Carlos Lozano (BYU) 6-4, 6-4
Felix Hardt (SDSU) def. Jose Lechuga (BYU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-3
Jeff Olsen (BYU) def. Daniel Jung (SDSU) 6-3, 7-6
Armando Carrascosa (SDSU) def. Anton Rudjuk (BYU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
Alonso Medina (BYU) def. Will LaFevre (SDSU) 6-3, 6-2