PROVO -- After a thrilling doubles point win, the BYU men's tennis team lost four of its six singles matches, getting edged out 4-3 by in-state rival Utah on Saturday. With the loss the Cougars fall to 14-11 on the season and 2-4 in Mountain West Conference play.
"I'm proud of our guys for fighting today," said BYU head coach Brad Pearce. "I don't think we lost because [Utah] has better players; at the crucial times during the match, our lack of experience is what hurt us. Those type of things can be fixed as the season goes on and in the years to come."
On court one in doubles, Jonathan Sanchez and AJ Young dropped an 8-4 match to Zach Ganger and Miron Mann. Freshmen Daniel Hwang and Thomas Shubert tied things up with their 8-6 win at the No. 2 position.
Tied at six games all, Cassidy Mears and Evan Urbina broke serve, going on to defeat Wes Hancock and Timmy Allin 8-6 and securing the doubles point for BYU.
In singles, both Sanchez and Urbina lost in straight sets on courts one and four, respectively. Hwang remained undefeated on the day with his decisive 6-2, 6-1 win over John Taylor. His win tied the match up at 2-2.
After winning his first set 6-3, Young was forced into a third set, which he eventually lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. The Cougars continued to battle however, with Mears tying things up once again with his 7-6, 6-3 win over Othman Zerouali-Ouariti at the No. 3 position.
Both teams gathered around the second court to cheer on their respective teammates in what was the deciding match of the day. Down a set, Shubert looked to rebound in the second, but came up just short, ending the day with a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Mann.
Despite going 1-2 on the weekend against league opponents, the Cougars remain confident as the MWC Tournament comes up on April 24-26.
"I look forward to playing against any of those teams at the conference tournament," said Pearce.
Before heading into the tournament, the Cougars will close the season at home against Santa Barbara on April 19.
RESULTS
Utah def. BYU, 4-3
April 12, 2008 - Provo, Utah
Doubles
1. Ganger/Mann (UTAH) def. Sanchez/A. Young (BYU) 8-4
2. Hwang/Shubert (BYU) def. Taylor/Zerouali (UTAH) 8-6
3. Mears/Urbina (BYU) def. Hancock/Allin (UTAH) 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. Z. Ganger (UTAH) def. J. Sanchez (BYU) 6-4,6-0
2. M. Mann (UTAH) def. T. Shubert (BYU) 7-5, 6-4
3. C. Mears (BYU) def. O. Zerouali (UTAH) 7-6, 6-3
4. W. Hancock (UTAH) def. E. Urbina (BYU) 6-3, 6-0
5. D. Hwang (BYU) def. J. Taylor (UTAH) 6-2, 6-1
6. T. Allin (UTAH) def. A. Young (BYU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 4, 5, 6, 3, 2