Cougars compete with nation's best teams

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis will compete against some of the best teams in the country Friday and Saturday in the BNP Paribas Collegiate Tennis Challenge in Indian Wells, California.

After their West Coast Conference match with San Francisco on Wednesday, the Cougars (8-9, 2-0 WCC) will head to Indian Wells for the tournament where No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 USC, No. 20 Tulsa, No. 28 Cal, No. 29 Columbia and Purdue will be competing.

The tournament is set up in bracket format with winners advancing to a championship match Sunday morning and losers moving toward a consolation championship later Sunday afternoon. BYU opens up against Baylor (12-2) Friday at 4 p.m. With a win, the Cougars would play Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of USC and Tulsa. With a first-round loss, BYU would face the loser of that matchup Saturday at 5 p.m.

Baylor (12-2)

·      No. 3 team in the nation

·      Julian Lenz (No. 4), Tony Lupieri (No. 29) and Maxime Tchoutakian (No. 36) are all ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Bears have three doubles combinations ranked nationally as well: Lupieri and Felipe Rios (No. 28), Lupieri and Mate Zsiga (No. 40), and Lenz and Diego Galeano (No. 77).

USC (12-2)

·      No. 4 team in the nation

·      Yannick Hanfmann (No. 8), Robert Quiroz (No. 20), Jonny Wang (No. 35), Max de Vroome (No. 50) and Nick Crystal (No. 51) are all ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Trojans also have two doubles teams ranked nationally: Quiroz and Hanfmann (No. 4) and de Vroome and Eric Johnson (50).

Tulsa (11-7)

·      No. 20 team in the nation

·      Or Ram-Harel (No. 37) and Alejandro Espejo (No. 100) are both ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Golden Hurricane also boasts a nationally ranked doubles duo in Espejo and Carlos Bautista (No. 53).

Oklahoma (14-1)

·      No. 1 team in the nation

·      2015 ITA Indoor Team National Champions

·      Axel Alvarez Llamas (no. 7), Andrew Harris (No. 19), Dane Webb (No. 26) and Alexandru Ghilea (No. 53) are all ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Sooners also have two doubles teams ranked nationally: Llamas and Webb (No. 5) as well as Ghilea and Harris (No. 69).

California (9-4)

·      No. 28 team in the nation

·      Andre Goransson (No. 67) and Filip Bergevi (No. 87) are both ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Golden Bears have two doubles teams ranked nationally as well: Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton (No. 36) and Goransson and Oskar Wikberg (No. 65).

Columbia (6-3)

·      No. 29 team in the nation

·      Winston Lin (No. 16) and Dragos Ignat (No. 83) are both ranked nationally in singles play.

·      The Lions have three ranked doubles teams: Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur (No. 20), Mike Vermeer and Richard Pham (No. 42) and Lin and Vermeer (No. 57).

Purdue (4-7)

·      The Boilermakers are coming off a loss to No. 21 Northwestern and have already played two teams in the field. The lost 4-0 to Tulsa in January and 7-0 at Baylor in February.