PROVO, Utah – Freshman David Ball helped BYU to a win against conference foe Santa Clara 4-2 Saturday in Provo.

“I’m proud of how our guys bounced back tonight,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “After a tough rivalry match, you don’t know how your team will respond. The guys responded well tonight with a big conference win. We will build off this and keep getting better.”

The Cougars (8-8, 2-0) got on the board quickly after two quick victories in doubles. Shane Monroe and Jeremy Bourgeois did not drop a game in a 6-0 win over the Broncos' duo of Sebastian Mathieu and Michael Standifer. Francis Sargeant and Andrey Goryachkov followed quickly at No. 1 doubles with a 6-2 victory against Ashot Khacharyan and Mikheil Khmisdashvil.

Santa Clara (4-7, 0-2) bounced back to even the score in singles when Ilya Osintsev outplayed Goyrachkov 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. After taking the first set, Sargeant dropped the next two in a battle with Khacharyan at No. 1 singles, losing 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Down 2-1, BYU reeled off the next three matchups to clinch the win. Monroe came back to beat Khmisdashvili in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Ball got on the court and quickly gave the Cougars the lead in dominating fashion, winning 6-0, 6-3 against Mathieu.

Jacob Sullivan battled to a three-set victory at No. 4 singles against Sam Bertram 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 6-2. With the third set score sitting at 5-2, Sullivan forced a deuce then hammered home the winner to clinch BYU’s second conference win.

The Cougars are back in action next Saturday when they welcome New Mexico to Provo at 1 p.m. MST. Live video and stats are available through the BYU men’s schedule page. 

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis returns home for a matchup with rival University of Utah Friday and a conference match against Santa Clara on Saturday in Provo.

The Cougars (7-7, 1-0) will look to snap a five-match losing streak when they host the Utes Friday. Senior captain Francis Sargeant leads BYU against its rival as he looks to continue to climb the BYU all-time singles victories list. He currently sits at seventh all time with 86, one win away from sixth place.

Utah (7-5) heads down to Provo hoping to snap a losing streak of their own having lost their last to matches to No. 44 Penn and No. 72 Boise State. The Utes had a 3-1 lead in the match against Penn but the Quakers rallied for the 4-3 victory.

Santa Clara (4-4, 0-0) will provide a good test for the Cougars in Provo. The Broncos are projected two finish third in the West Coast Conference, two spots ahead of BYU’s projected finish. Santa Clara is led by Ashot Khacharyan at No. 1 singles. Khacharyan boasts a 12-3 singles record and has won five of his last six matches.

The match against Utah on Friday and Santa Clara on Saturday will both begin at 5:30 p.m. MST. Live video and stats are available on the BYU men’t tennis schedule page.