No. 36 Men's Tennis Preps for Lobos, Falcons

2010-Smith-action1_3_02010-Smith-action1_3_0

PROVO, Utah -- Still at the top of the Mountain West Conference, the No. 36 BYU men’s tennis team hosts No. 54 New Mexico Thursday at 1 p.m. in this season’s Y Game followed by an Air Force matchup at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The Cougars (16-4, 3-0) wrapped up last week’s play with a 5-2 win against San Diego State Saturday on the Aztecs’ home courts. Prior to Saturday’s victory, the Cougars took down No. 52 UNLV 5-2 Thursday in Las Vegas.

BYU is the only undefeated team in the Mountain West Conference after two weeks of conference play, having won 12 matches in row.

Junior Georgy Batrakov hasn’t lost a singles match since January, continuing his 15-match winning streak with two wins against UNLV and SDSU opponents. With Thomas Shubert, Batrakov is 10-1 in doubles.

No. 110 Patrick Kawka is 26-8 in singles and teams up with Evan Urbina for a 19-9 doubles record. Urbina has the highest number of singles wins, with a 27-10 overall record.

Sophomore Spencer Smith, a Salt Lake City native, is on his own 12-match winning streak with a 20-4 singles record.

Jadon Philips plays at the No. 1 position for UNM (12-8, 2-1) and holds a 12-7 record. With Phil Anderson, Philips has a 13-5 doubles record.

The Lobos are coming off a loss to TCU Saturday, dropping them to third place in conference.

Air Force (10-9, 0-3) will play Utah State Thursday and Utah Friday before meeting BYU Saturday for the USTA Campus Kid’s Day match.

Both matches will be played at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts, weather permitting. Admission is free and pizza and prizes will be provided.

Spectators may park in the Y Lot parking lots south of the outdoor courts and north and south of the Indoor Practice Facility on Thursday. Parking rules will not be enforced in these lots Thursday, but will be enforced in all other A, G and Y parking lots. For Saturday’s match, spectators may park in any Y Lots.