May 11, 2001

PROVO, UT - After surprising the Mountain West Conference by winning the tournament as a four seed, then getting a surprise invitation to host the first two rounds as the lowest seed in their region, the BYU men's tennis team almost came up with another surprise on Friday afternoon against the 14th-seeded Cal Bears, yet the Cougars came up short, losing 4-1, in a close match at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

After BYU took the doubles point, Cal won the first three singles matches to take a 3-1 lead. But, in the last three singles matches, the Cougars were up at the two spot and the five spot, before Anton Rudjuk lost at the four spot in a tie-breaker in the third set, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).

"We gave it our all and we just didn't quite get it done," said BYU coach Jim Osborne. "Cal is solid all the way down the line. We knew coming in that we would have to play great tennis to beat them and we almost did. We played well, but we needed to play great and they just played better."

The Cougars started the match with an exciting victory in doubles. BYU's 32nd-ranked doubles team of Gert Vilms and Carlos Lozano defeated Cal's 36th-ranked doubles team of Adrian Barnes and Scott Kintz, 8-4, at the No. 1 spot. Then, with Cal winning at the three spot, the point came down to the No. 2. BYU's Jeff Olsen and Jeff Harbach took the match with Ben Miles and Balazs Veress to the tie-breaker before Cal won the match and the doubles point, 8-8 (9-7).

"The doubles point gave us a big high to start," said BYU coach Jim Osborne. "Playing the doubles point first is a great system. Our strategy came so close, we just needed tomorrow's weather, 89 degrees instead of 80."

Cal will face Fresno State, Saturday at 2 p.m. at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts to see who will advance from the Mountain Region to the field of 16.

NCAA Mountain Regional Results:

#67 BYU 1 #14 California-Berkeley 4

Doubles:
BYU wins the doubles point

#1 Vilms/Lozano (32) vs. Barnes/Kintz (36) 8-4 BYU
#2 Olsen/Harbach vs. Fruttero/Kowalczyk 8-8 (9-7) BYU
#3 Nyman/Stohl vs. Miles/Veress 8-6 CAL

Singles:
Cal wins the first four singles to take the match, 4-1

#1 Gert Vilms vs. John Paul Fruttero 6-2, 6-3 CAL
#2 Carlos Lozano vs. Adrian Barnes DNF
#3 Eric Nyman vs. Balazs Veress 6-2, 6-4 CAL
#4 Anton Rudjuk vs. Robert Kowalczyk 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) CAL
#5 Jeff Harbach vs. Scott Kintz DNF
#6 Matt Stohl vs. Ben Miles 6-2, 6-1 CAL

In the first match of the day, No. 20 Fresno State defeated No. 47 Wake Forest, 4-3.