By Scott Creer
With the Mountain West Conference Tournament behind them, the BYU men”s and women”s tennis teams look to continue their winning ways starting at the NCAA Regional Tournament.
Craig Manning, women”s head coach, is looking forward to the challenge of the national competition.
“We want to qualify for nationals,” Manning said. “We think we have a chance.
Both teams were crowned MWC champions this past weekend at the MWC tournament. While the women entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed, the men entered as a No. 4 seed.
In the first round, the men beat in-state rival Utah in a thriller, 4-3. The deciding match actually went to a tiebreaker in the final set, with BYU”s Michael Gysens pulling it out for the Cougars.
BYU went on to stun No. 1 San Diego State in round two, and then completed the tournament championship by beating No. 3 seed UNLV.
Meanwhile, the top-seeded women blanked Wyoming in the first round. They followed that up with a second round victory over No. 4 seed New Mexico.
The Cougar women then won a tough match-up with No. 2 seed San Diego State, 4-3, to claim the MWC championship.
Along with both teams winning the championship, BYU claimed personal achievements in the MWC this year.
Jodi Richardson, the women”s team No. 1 singles player, took home honors as MWC player of the year.
“She”s played well all year, but she was just so clutch at conference there,” Manning said.
Teammates Lu Oswald and Dominique Reynolds joined Richardson on the All-Conference Team.
Eric Nyman on the men”s team was named MWC Freshman of the Year. Jim Osborne, men”s head coach, and Manning won the MWC Coach of the Year awards.
The women are now preparing for the NCAA Regional tournament on May 12-13. The NCAA Championships will take place May 17-25 in Stone Mountain, Ga.
The men also have the NCAA Regional Tournament on May 12-13. After that, the NCAA Championships run from May 19-28 at the University of Georgia.
