By Daniel Singer
The No. 66 ranked BYU men”s tennis team will face the University of Denver Saturday March 8 at 11 a.m. at the BYU indoor tennis courts.
The Cougars are coming off a dominating 6-1 win over Utah State last week, but face a much tougher opponent in Denver.
“Their top four players are very good,” said senior Carlos Lozano. “The top two will be an especially tough challenge for (senior Erik Nyman) and I.”
Denver brings a five-game win streak into Saturday”s match.
“They have got a pretty good team, but I think we can beat them,” sophomore Jose Lechuga said.
Lechuga was awarded the Mountain West Conference player of the week award this week. He joined teammates Lozano and Nyman as the third Cougar in three weeks time to win the MWC award.
Lozano and Nyman are coming off a month-long break when the Cougars didn”t play, in addition to sitting out the Utah State match to avoid violating and NCAA ruling that limits players to 25 matches a year.
“It”s been a long break,” Lozano said. “Erik and I are both really excited to get back in there.”
The long break is not worrying the Cougars” coaching staff.
“I”m not worried about Panda (Lozano) and Erik being rusty,” coach Jim Osborne said. “I think that they are so excited that they will come out and play very well.”
Osborne said he is also confident in the rest of the team.
“Jose (Lechuga) has been playing so well for us,” Osborne said. “The entire team is playing really well right now.”
The Cougars will be without senior Jeff Olsen in the No. 6 singles match. Olsen, who hurt his leg during his match with the Aggies, will still play in the doubles spot.
Freshman Rob Sperry, who convincingly beat his Utah State opponent last week, will play in the No. 6 position. This match will be only the third of Sperry”s intercollegiate career.
“Saturday will be a tennis fan”s dream day,” Osborne said. “We play at 11 against a very good team, then the women”s team plays right after us at 3 p.m. There will be some great tennis to watch.”
Saturday”s match will be the Cougars” last chance to play in front of a home crowd until the month of April. The team leaves next week for Palm Springs to play UC Santa Barbara.
