INDIAN WELLS -- The No. 63 BYU men's tennis team notched its fifth-straight victory by defeating the No. 70 Princeton Tigers 4-3. The Cougars (6-5, 0-0) got a great push from their doubles play, and clinched the win early with a few wins in singles play.
Gert Vilms returned to action after missing last week's match with an injured hamstring. Vilms and Carlos Lozano, the No. 6 doubles team in the country, easily won their match at No. 1 doubles, 8-2. Jeff Harbach and Jeff Olsen won 9-8 at No. 2 and Nic Losee and Erik Nyman won 8-2 at No. 3.
"It was windy and it was really cold surprisingly," BYU assistant coach Brad Pearce said. "We came in expecting to win though, and it was nice for the guys to come through the way they did."
Vilms, Nyman and Losee all won their singles matches at the No. 2, 3 and 4 spots, respectively. Nyman won in dominating fashion, 6-2, 6-0, to continue his impressive play. Nyman has now won five consecutive matches and nine of his last 11.
The Cougars will have a full week off before heading back to the West Coast. BYU will take on Sacramento State, Cal Berkeley and Stanford in three days beginning Mar. 25.
FINAL RESULTSDOUBLES
No.1 Lozano/Vilms (BYU) def. Burman/Friedman (UP) 8-2
No. 2 Harbach/Olsen (BYU) def. Kofol/Williams (UP) 9-8
No. 3 Losee/Nyman (BYU) def. Chasse/Joe (UP) 8-2
BYU WINS DOUBLES POINT
SINGLES
No. 1 Trevor Smith (UP) def. Carlos Lozano (BYU) 7-6, 6-7, 10-8
No. 2 Gert Vilms (BYU) def. Josh Burman (UP) 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 Erik Nyman (BYU) def. Daniel Friedman (UP) 6-2, 6-0
No. 4 Nic Losee (BYU) def. Darren Joe (UP) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
No. 5 Tim Kofol (UP) def. Jeff Olsen (BYU) 6-0, 6-4
No. 6 Nick Benjamin (UP) def. Jeff Harbach (BYU) 2-6, 7-6, 13-11
BYU WINS MATCH 4-3
* A 10-point tiebreaker was played at the No. 1 and No. 6 spots instead of a full third set
PROVO -- The No. 63 BYU men's tennis team hits the road again to play a neutral-court match with No. 70 Princeton. The two evenly-matched teams will face off in Palm Springs, Calif., at the site of the Pacific Life Open Saturday at 4 p.m.
"Princeton is going to be a tough team all the way down," BYU head coach Jim Osborne said. "It's going to be another step-up time for the lower seeds."
The Cougars will play without Anton Rudjuk in singles again. Rudjuk injured his ribs last week in practice. Gert Vilms will return to play doubles, but will sit out singles once again. Vilms and Carlos Lozano are the No. 6 ranked doubles team in the country. Vilms is still nursing a hamstring injury and the Cougars will need to pick up the slack in singles for him.
BYU did exactly that as the Cougars defeated Denver last week. Jeff Olsen, Jeff Harbach and Jose Luis Lechuga all played well to overcome the loss of Vilms and Rudjuk. Erik Nyman and Nic Losee also won their singles matches and the Cougars also swept all three doubles matches to beat Denver 6-1.
BYU will have the week off following the Princeton match and will resume play Mar. 25. The Cougars will return to the West Coast and play Sacramento State, Cal and Stanford in three days.
