By Kyle Cottam
Although the men”s tennis team will play on the road Feb. 12, 2004 at Fresno State, it will be a homecoming of sorts.
Nima Roshan, a sophomore born in Australia, played with Fresno before transferring to BYU last year. And although there may be higher expectations for a win against his former team, Roshan said he is approaching the contest as just another match.
“I”m just going to try to treat it like just another match,” Roshan said. “Revenge is going to be a little sweeter when we win, hopefully.”
Head coach Brad Pearce said he knows Roshan is hungry for a win against the Bulldogs.
“Nima obviously wants to have a good match, so I know he”ll be geared up for it,” Pearce said.
A win at Fresno for the Cougars will not come easy. Both teams are ranked in the nation, BYU No. 73, and Fresno No. 39. However, both teams are coming off of consecutive losses.
“The Fresno team is good, and it is always tough playing Fresno,” Pearce said.
A key for the Cougars will be winning the initial doubles point against the Bulldogs. BYU has struggled this season in winning the doubles point, only winning the point against Utah State. The Bulldogs also have not won the doubles point in their last three matches.
“We really have to do well and win the doubles point and then we have to have the guys come up and play some solid matches,” Pearce said.
BYU will have to deal with the Bulldog crowd, which tends to be rowdy. Pearce said they are particularly aware of the crowd”s impact.
“Fresno gets good crowd support and it is always a rowdy crowd,” Pearce said.
Roshan said he knows he may face a tough crowd upon his return.
“The crowds there are pretty hostile; they”re not BYU students, so it gets a little rough out there sometimes,” Roshan said. “It won”t be a huge crowd, but there will be a lot of people there. And probably a lot of them will know me and may have some words to say.”
BYU faced Fresno State last year and lost the match 4-3. A win would not only mean sweet revenge for Roshan, but also for the team.
