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BYU Defeats New Mexico In Second Round Of MWC Men's Tennis Championship
Cougars to play for conference title on Saturday.
April 26, 2002
LAS VEGAS - Second-seeded Brigham Young won a close doubles point and managed to hold off third-seed New Mexico 4-1 in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship at the Fertitta Tennis Complex Friday. The defending champion Cougars, ranked 70th, improved to 14-8 overall after enjoying a first-round bye while the 63rd-ranked Lobos fell to 16-9. Playing in sunny but breezy conditions, the teams split the first two completed doubles matches by the same score of 8-4. The decisive match on court two saw Nic Losee and Erik Nyman go to a tiebreaker to hold off Ryan Stotland and Brent Salazar 9-8 (7-4) to give BYU the key team point. In singles play, Nyman finished first with a 6-2, 6-2 win over David Kowalksi on court four. The match at the top spot also was quickly decided as Lozano's 6-4, 6-3 victory over Divan Coetzee made it 3-0. The Cougars nearly got the shutout but Michael Polasek rallied to win a second-set tiebreaker vs. Losee at No. 3 to extend the match. John Kowalski then earned UNM's only point by downing Jeff Olsen 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 5. Vilms finally clinched it with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Bart Scott at No. 2 while the remaining matches were both halted in the third set. "We beat New Mexico 6-1 in Albuquerque (on April 6) but we knew they were better than that and they showed that in a tough match today," BYU head coach Jim Osborne said. "It was close in the doubles and there were a lot of three-setters so I am proud of the way our guys fought hard. We got the big lead but momentum began to swing the other way when they won the tiebreaker to split sets at No. 3. Gert then came through with a solid win to end it." The Cougars will face the winner of Friday's other semifinal match between San Diego State and Utah in Saturday's championship while the Lobos will face the loser of that match for third place.
Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship
SINGLES - (BYU Wins Three Team Points) 1. Carlos Lozano (BYU) def. Divan Coetzee (UNM), 6-4, 6-3 2. Gert Vilms (BYU) def. Bart Scott (UNM), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 3. Nic Losee (BYU) def. Michael Polasek (UNM), Did not finish 4. Erik Nyman (BYU) def. David Kowalski (UNM), 6-2, 6-2 5. John Kowalski (UNM) def. Jeff Olsen (BYU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 6. Jeff Harbach (BYU) vs. Ryan Stotland (UNM) Did not finish
DOUBLES -- (BYU Wins One Team Point) |
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