Week-long Road Trip Kicks Off with Pacific

PROVO -- After being off for two weeks, the No. 59 BYU men's tennis team will be back in action this weekend when they travel to California to take on the University of the Pacific on Saturday in Stockton.

The last time the Cougars were in action was when they beat Denver 4-3 on March 8 in Provo. Last weekend's match with UC Santa Barbara was canceled due to inclement weather.

"It'll be nice to be in action again," said BYU head coach Jim Osborne. "This match with Pacific will be the beginning of a long road trip that will last until next Saturday. We will be playing five matches in the next week, so the break was nice to give our guys some rest."

Pacific currently has a 10-3 overall record and is undefeated (4-0) in Big West Conference play. They have big wins over Loyola Marymount, Utah State and Northern Arizona, teams that BYU has defeated this year as well. The Tigers are led by Arnar Sigurdsson at the No. 1 spot, who has a 9-3 dual match record.

"Pacific always has a tough team," said Osborne. "Anytime you play a team from California, you know you're going to get some tough competition. So many people play tennis in California and the teams there are always really good."

The Cougars will be looking to Carlos Lozano, Erik Nyman and Jose Lechuga to lead them to victory over the Tigers. All three have been named as the MWC Player of the Week this season. Lozano and Nyman have teamed up at the No.1 doubles spot this season and currently have a 17-6 overall record (6-4 dual match). The tandem is the tenth-ranked doubles team in the nation.

"We really need our guys to step up for us," said Osborne. "We are coming up on conference play and the end of the season and it's important that we're playing our best tennis."

After the match with Pacific, BYU will spend all next week on the road. They will face Cal on Monday, Stanford on Wednesday, Boise State on Friday and Fresno State on Saturday.