Final Box Score

PROVO, Utah-- The BYU men's tennis team kicked off its 2016 season by sweeping the Southern Utah T-Birds 7-0 at home Friday night, only giving up 10 games the entire match.

"It was great for our guys to experience match condtions in front of a standing room only crowd," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "It was an incredible atmosphere. I have great respect for Coach Staheli and his players for their effort and their sportmanship. We have the right mix of leadership, talent and competiveness with return of missionaries and the improvement of our players this summer. We've also added a talented freshman to the mix in JD Malan. I'm excited for practice tomorrow morning as we prepare for our first road trip of the season next week." 

The Cougars (1-0, 0-0) got on the board quickly by winning the doubles point. Shane Monroe and Keaton Cullimore defeated SUU's Brandon Olcott and Dario Rios 6-1 and John Pearce and Jeremy Bourgeois took down Joshua Coen and Peyton Garnett 6-2 to put BYU up 1-0 early on. Because the doubles point had already been won, Andrey Goryachkov and Jacob Sullivan's match was called at 5-3.

BYU didn't allow Southern Utah (0-1, 0-0) to get anything going on the singles side either. Cullimore, Goryachkov and Pearce each swept their opponents 6-0, 6-0 to claim three singles points for BYU. Monroe defeated Ryan Andrus 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles spot to give the Cougars a 5-0 lead. Bourgeois defeated SUU's Joshua Coen 6-0, 6-2, and JD Malan sealed the sweep for the Cougars with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Peyton Garnett. 

The Cougars will head to Hawaii next week to face three different teams: BYU-Hawai'i, Sacramento State, and the University of Hawai'i. Their next home match is Jan. 22 against Weber State.

PROVO, Utah—The BYU men’s tennis team kicks off their 2016 season against the Southern Utah University T-Birds Friday evening at home.

"We are delighted to get in a home match prior to our first away trip next week," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "SUU tennis is an up-and-coming program. They are excited to start their season on our home courts in front of a great crowd, and we wanted to get our fans excited and revved-up about our men's tennis team and the incredible atmosphere of a home match, so starting our season against them was a win-win for both programs."

BYU features six returning players from the 2015 season. The team also consists of three players returning to the team after their LDS missions.

The Cougars have one senior on the team, Andrey Goryachkov. They also boast five juniors and three sophomores. The captains this year are junior Keaton Cullimore and sophomore John Pearce.

Southern Utah comes to Provo for their first match of the season. They did not compete in 2015 tournament play and are returning seven players from their previous season. They feature two seniors, one junior and six underclassmen.  

Admission to all tennis games is free and free pizza is also avaliable for those fans that attend. As a special promotion for this match, those who arrive before the 5:30 pm start time will be entered in a drwaing to win prizes such as a tennis racquet or a racquet bag. The drawing will be held during the intermission of doubles and singles.

The Cougars travel to Hawaii next week for three matches and will not be back home until January 22 when they will play Weber State. Live stats to those matches, as well as Friday’s match, can be found on the men’s tennis schedule page.