Men Play Fresno State in NCAA First Round

PROVO, Utah (May 11, 2010) With a 21-6 record, the No. 34 BYU men’s tennis team begins play in the 2010 NCAA Tennis Championships, this Friday.

The Cougars are in the bracket hosted by 2009 defending champions USC. In first round action BYU will battle No. 28 Fresno State (18-9) on Friday, May 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

In the other first round match it’s No. 5 and host USC (19-3) who battles Marist (14-5). That match begins at 1 p.m. On Saturday, May 15 the winners of each match advance to the second round set to begin at 1 p.m.

The winner from each site goes on to compete in the Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, beginning May 21.

COUGARS IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

This will be the first time that BYU has competed in the team portion of the NCAA tournament since 2001. In that appearance the team lost to Cal in first round action 4-1. The Golden Bears went on to finish in the Round of 16.

The Cougars are one of two teams from the Mountain West Conference participating in this year’s national tournament. TCU received the league’s automatic bid while BYU received an at-large invitation.

Singles and doubles players have competed in the individual portion of the tournament as recent as 2004 when Eric Nyman lost in first round action in singles to Alex Slovic from the University of Washington. Nyman and Nima Roshan competed in doubles but also fell in the first round to a duo from Arizona.

ABOUT FIRST/SECOND ROUND OPPONENTS

BYU and Fresno State will be meeting for the 11th time in the series history between the two schools. The Bulldogs lead the series 8-2. Their last meeting was in Fresno on February 12, 2004 where FSU beat BYU 6-1.

BYU and Marist have never played each other.

The Trojans and Cougars have met 22 times over the years with USC capturing all of the victories in the series. The last time the two schools met dates back to the 2003 campaign. In that matchup the Trojans won 7-0 in Los Angeles.