By James Thatcher
The BYU men”s tennis team won big in their first tournament of the season, taking the top four places in singles and first place in doubles out of a field of 32 individuals competing from six teams.
Sophomore Jeff Das defeated fellow teammate Christian Hand 6-3, 6-1 in the final match on Saturday morning, walking away the proud owner of a new DVD player, the first prize of the BYU Invitational.
Sophomore transfer James Ludlow beat out highly-recruited freshman Shane Laporte in the other final match to take third.
“Obviously, Jeff had a great tournament,” coach Brad Pearce said. “He was solid from the beginning of the week and was just as solid at the end.”
Das did not cede more than three games in a set to any opponent for the whole tournament.
Hand was visibly frustrated at times in the final match, chasing across the court and smashing the ball as hard as he could.
“In the second set, I had him moving a lot more,” Das said.
Hand said he was happy with his overall performance
“I thought Chip did a good job with his style of play that”s so similar to Jeff”s,” Pearce said. “I think there were some great points where Chip rocketed some balls; [he] just maybe needed to be more consistent.”
Das, Hand, Ludlow and LaPorte made for an all-BYU quarterfinal.
Ludlow won his first set against LaPorte before LaPorte had to retire for the day, having played several matches over three days after a three-week vacation.
“James had a great tournament – he took third place,” Pearce said. “That was really good and should have helped his confidence.
“I think Shane played some good tennis and just ran out of gas. Those who were hereand watched could see the talent he has; we just wore him out,” he said.
For the doubles final, Jose Lechuga and Nima Roshan won a close match against the No. 1 doubles seed from Montana State. The pair won eight matches to Montana State”s six.
Both were happy to see the crowd, even if the scorer did have to caution the students to be more quiet during play.
“I had the most fun I”ve ever had on a tennis court,” Roshan said, who hit numerous balls that his opponents were unable to return during the match, to the crowd”s delight.
Lechuga said he was excited for the win after a frustrating loss to the No. 3 seed in singles on Friday. Roshan had come close to the singles quarterfinals, falling to teammate Ludlow after two tiebreaker sets.
During the same week, Cougar Johnathan Sanchez won his first pro-style tournament, earning a point in the international rankings after beating the No. 621 player in the world.
“That”s the step these guys will take after college – they”ll want to start breaking into the pro tour,” Pearce said.
