LAS -- The BYU men's tennis team lost its second consecutive Mountain West Conference match on Friday after falling 6-1 to a tough No. 31 TCU team. The Cougars are now 12-9 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
To start the match, the Horned Frogs came out to a quick start; posting doubles wins on all three courts to claim the doubles point. Jonathan Sanchez and A.J. Young fell 8-1 to the No.45-ranked duo in the country, Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet.
"[TCU] just played a lot better than we did to start the match in doubles," said BYU head coach Brad Pearce. "I was really proud of our guys in singles. We fought hard. For a period of time we were battling on four courts and all of those matches were really close. Everybody dug in and kept fighting and challenging. I loved the way we competed today."
Playing at the No. 3 position, sophomore Cassidy Mears forced BYU's only three-set match of the day, but fell 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Evan Urbina and Daniel Hwang also suffered tough losses on the fourth and fifth courts, respectively.
The Cougars only win came at the No. 6 position when Young defeated TCU's Jack Seider 6-2, 7-6. The freshman has won all three of his singles matches this week.
"A.J. [Young's] been doing a great job for us," said Pearce. "He's competed in every match and his confidence is rising. He's going out and expecting to win, which is a good thing."
Sanchez and No. 29 Cotet faced off again for the second time on the day, with Sanchez losing 6-1, 6-0. Freshman Thomas Shubert also dropped a straight set match on court two (6-3, 6-0).
BYU will play one more match on Saturday before returning home to Provo. The team is scheduled to face Air Force on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.
RESULTS
No. 31 TCU def. BYU, 6-1
March 28, 2008 - Provo, Utah
Doubles
1. #45 Brink/Cotet (TCU) def. Sanchez/Young (BYU) 8-1
2. Simon/Brighiu (TCU) def. Hwang/Shubert (BYU) 8-4
3. Nichols/Seider (TCU) def. Mears/Urbina (BYU) 8-4
Singles
1. #29 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU) 6-1, 6-0
2. Emanu Brighiu (TCU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Kriegler Brink (TCU) def. Cassidy Mears (BYU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
4. Adrian Simon (TCU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-3, 7-6
5. Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Daniel Hwang (BYU) 6-4, 6-2
6. AJ Young (BYU) def. Jack Seider (TCU) 6-2, 7-6