ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Riding the success of junior Francis Sargeant along with freshmen Aidan Carrazedo and Matthew Pearce, BYU defeated Navy 5-2 in convincing fashion Saturday.

 

The Cougars (3-0) defeated the Midshipmen (0-1) while playing seven freshmen in the match.

 

“With a young team, in our first away match of the season, and against a solid Navy team, I couldn’t be more pleased to come away with a 5-2 win,“ BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “We’re going to recharge tomorrow and are looking forward to mixing it up with George Washington Monday morning.”

 

Sargeant paired up with freshman Sterling Galli to dominate Thomas Pecor and Austin Jones, 6-1, and Pearce teamed with freshman Jacob Sullivan to beat Krishna Jana and Tyler Tossavainen, 6-2 to lock up the doubles point for the Cougars.

 

Carrazedo and Pearce then pushed the BYU point total to three points with their singles wins. First, the South African Carrazedo took care of his opponent with a solid 6-2, 6-1 win. 

 

Then the Timpview product Pearce secured the third point for the Cougars, digging deep after dropping the second set. He pulled out the win in the third versus Blake Daniel in tiebreakers, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).

 

Sargeant then clinched the match for BYU, showing his experience as team captain. He stayed undefeated in singles play in 2014 with a decisive 6-2, 6-3 win over Pecor at first singles.

 

Freshman Juan Canales put away his opponent 6-4, 6-3 while fellow freshman Robin Pfister narrowly lost in his first collegiate match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

 

The Cougars look to continue their season-opening win streak as they face the Colonials on Monday at 10:30 a.m. EST.





No. 45 BYU (3-0) def. Navy (0-1), 5-2

Doubles 

1 - Sterling Galli / Sargeant (BYU) def. Jones / Pecor, 6-1

2 - Daniel / Mark (Navy) vs. Bourgeois / Pfister, 4-4, UF

3 - Pearce / Jacob Sullivan (BYU) def. Jana / Tossavainen, 6-2

Singles

1 - Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Thomas Pecor, 6-2, 6-3

2 - Austin Jones (Navy) def. Jeremy Bourgeois, 6-1, 6-0

3 - Calvin Mark (Navy) def. Robin Pfister, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

4 - Matthew Pearce (BYU) def. Blake Daniel, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)

5 - Juan Canales (BYU) def. Krishna Jana, 6-4, 6-3

6 - Aidan Carrazedo (BYU) def. Tyler Tossavainen, 6-2, 6-1

PROVO, Utah--On the heels of winning its first two matches of the season, the No. 45 BYU men’s tennis team travels to the East Coast to face Navy and No. 74 George Washington this weekend at Annapolis, Md.

 

The Cougars (2-0) face the Midshipmen at 12 p.m. EST on Saturday. On Monday, the team will be pitted against the Colonials at 10:30 a.m. EST. The matches will be the first time the Cougars have played these two schools.

 

“We’re excited about going to our nation’s capital to be able to play against one of the great service academies in Navy and to follow that with a good school and opponent in George Washington,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “It’s new, fresh and exciting. Our guys prove they are capable of competing against big teams.”

 

BYU is coming off of two season-opening wins versus Weber State and Utah State. Against the Aggies, the match came down to the wire with two freshmen tying the match and clinching it for the Cougars.

 

Matthew Pearce defeated his opponent to help knot the match at 3-3. Then Aidan Carrazedo won four straight games in the third set to beat his opponent, giving BYU the 4-3 win. 

 

The Mountain Region No. 8 singles player, Francis Sargeant, also came through going undefeated last week with two singles and two doubles victories. 

 

Next weekend, BYU is on the road again competing in Kentucky at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.