Conference Play Rolls On

PROVO -- Mountain West Conference tennis continued Friday as the BYU women's team beat Air Force, and the BYU men's team almost upset No. 47 New Mexico.

The women's team recorded its third sweep of the season against Air Force in Colorado with a 4-0 win. BYU began by sweeping the doubles matches, featuring the 11th win in a row for the No. 47 duo of Anastasia Surkova and Jenny Miccoli, the second win in as many opportunities for the team of Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang and freshman Jocelyn Jensen's first dual match win with Kristina Doerr.

"We had a lot of fun today, and we're playing really good tennis all around right now," BYU head coach Craig Manning said. "It's the best time of the year to play well, and we just hope we can keep this going for us throughout the rest of the season."

In singles competition, Surkova did not give up a single game in two sets at the no. 1 spot against Lauren Wilson. Jones and Chie Hayasaka also won convincingly at nos. 2 and 3 while Doerr did not finish her match at no. 4 because the team win was already decided. Nos. 5 and 6 did not start.

The women improve to 13-5 and 3-0 with the win and will face Wyoming on Saturday. Senior day for the team will be Wednesday as the Cougars host Boise State in their last nonconference and last home match of the season.

In men's competition, the Cougars were able to win the doubles point with victories from seniors Dominik Kaufhold and James Ludlow on court no. 1 and Cassidy Mears and Cale Planck on court no. 3. Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez were close on court no. 2, but lost 9-7.

Singles competition proved to be more positive for Hand as he won his eighth match in a row at no. 3 against New Mexico's Graeme Kassautzki. Mears also won his singles match at no. 5 against Johnny Parkes.

"The energy was great today, and they keep fighting," BYU head men's coach Brad Pearce said. "Slow hard courts and sea level conditions don't play to our strengths, but the bottom line is that we just need more production. All the teams we are playing are ranked nationally, and they're all tough teams. We still like our chances against the other teams and in the conference tournament."

The men fall to 9-11 and 0-2 heading into Saturday's match against No. 74 TCU. It will also be the last of five road matches for the team in six days.

Match Results:

Women's tennis

No. 27 BYU defeats Air Force, 4-0

Doubles

No. 1: Surkova/Miccoli (BYU) def. Morgan/Abayan (AFA); 8-2

No. 2: Jones/Chang (BYU) def. Walker/Wilson (AFA); 8-2

No. 3: Doerr/Jensen (BYU) def. Kiser/Rudico (AFA); 8-3

Singles

No. 1: Anastasia Surkova (BYU) def. Lauren Wilson (AFA); 6-0, 6-0

No. 2: Lauren Jones (BYU) def. Christine Abayan (AFA); 6-2, 6-3

No. 3: Chie Hayasaka (BYU) def. Meghan Kaiser (AFA); 6-1, 6-1

No. 4: Kelly Morgan (AFA) vs. Kristina Doerr (BYU); 7-5, 3-5 DNF

No. 5: Not Played

No. 6: Not Played

Men's tennis

No. 47 New Mexico defeats No. 69 Brigham Young, 4-3

Doubles

1. James Ludlow/Dominik Kaufhold (BYU) def. Max Jones/Kamil Pajkowski (UNM), 8-2

2. Johnny Parkes/Miles Bugby (UNM) def. Chip Hand/Jonathan Sanchez (BYU), 8-7

3. Cassidy Mears/Cale Planck (BYU) def. Chris Parkes/Graeme Kassautzki (UNM), 8-3

Brigham Young wins doubles point

Singles

1. Max Jones (UNM) def. #105 James Ludlow (BYU), 6-1, 6-2

2. Johnny Parkes (UNM) def. Dominik Kaufhold (BYU), 6-2, 6-3

3. Chip Hand (BYU) def. Graeme Kassautzki (UNM), 5-7, 6-3, 6-2

4. Miles Bugby (UNM) def. Jonathan Sanchez (BYU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1

5. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Johnny Parkes (UNM), 4-6, 6-4, 6-5 (ret.)

6. Kamil Pajkowski (UNM) def. Cale Planck (BYU), 6-3, 6-4