The men's tennis team competed in the regional playoffs this weekend, Jan. 20-21 2006 at Boise State, coming away with a 4-2 loss in the first round to Colorado. The loss ended their chances of qualifying for the ITA National Indoor Championships for the first time in school history.

The Cougars had a strong start, with James Ludlow beating No. 60 Eric Molnar from Colorado 6-4, 6-1 on court one. Jose Lechuga also won his match against Colorado's Marek Dvorak 6-3, 6-4, giving BYU the only two wins they would have in the playoff.

Other Cougars down the courts struggled, giving Colorado the four points they needed to win the match. Christian Hand took his match to all three sets, losing in the end to Colorado's Peter Bjork. Hand took the first set in the match 6-4, coming out strong against a tough opponent. Bjork, however, came back in the second set, winning 6-1. The third set was a battle, with Bjork taking the match and the point for the Colorado team.

Jonathon Sanchez, Dominik Kaufhold and Ivan Kokurin all had tough matches, but in the end all three found defeat.

In the other semi-final match, Utah matched up against host Boise State. Utah won the match, 4-3.5.

Colorado and Utah squared off in the finals for the opportunity to attend the ITA National Indoor Championships. Colorado went undefeated against the Utes, winning every singles and doubles match.

The Cougars hit on the road all next week, facing Santa Barbara today, No. 5 UCLA on Wednesday and Pepperdine on Friday.

(For comments, e-mail Stacy Johnson at

stacykaye@hotmail.com)

Copyright Brigham Young University 23 Jan 2006