Indian Wells Tennis Garden
78-200 Miles Ave Indian Wells CA 92210
Indian Wells, Calif. – BYU men’s tennis fell to Tulsa 4-3 in the opening round of the BNP Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge presented by Oracle Friday afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
"It's always a tough loss when you have match points for the team win and other matches are lost in three-set battles that could go either way," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "Nevertheless, I give Tulsa credit for pulling it out. Both teams deserved to win by their fight and competitiveness, but it went their way today. We've got to get ourselves ready to bounce back tomorrow morning with another opportunity against a quality team in SMU."
BYU (11-2) came out strong in doubles to claim the point over Tulsa (10-10) with wins in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Duo Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu remained undefeated as they earned a 6-2 win over Majed Kilani and Lucca Baptista 6-2. Teammates John Pearce and Ben Gajardo defeated Louis Corker and Mitchell Pritchard 6-2 to move the Cougars 1-0 into singles play.
Hill fell to No. 118 Kilani 6-0, 6-0 in No. 1 singles giving Tulsa its first point. Gajardo carried his winning streak in singles to earn a 6-0, 6-2 win over Corker. Sam Tullis battled and earned a solid 7-5, 6-3 win over Pritchard in No. 4 singles to help the Cougars take a 3-1 advantage against the Golden Hurricane.
Tulsa fought back and won the next two singles matches. No. 71 Joshua Goodger earned a win over Hsu in a close three-set match ending in a tiebreaker (6-4, 2-6, 7-6) and Borriss Kamdem defeated Matthew Pearce 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in No. 6 singles.
With BYU and Tulsa tied at 3-all, the match came down to No. 3 singles. Baptista defeated J. Pearce 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 in another close match ending in a tiebreaker, giving the Golden Hurricane a 4-3 win over the Cougars.
BYU battles SMU Saturday morning at 8 a.m. PST at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in the back-draw of the tournament. The draw can be found here. Live stats will be available on the men’s schedule page.
Match Results
BYU 3, TU 4
Doubles Results
- HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) def. KILANI, Majed/BAPTISTA, Lucca (TU) 6-2
- PEARCE, John/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. CORKER, Louis/PRITCHARD, Mitchell (TU) 6-1
- TULLIS, Sam/BALL, David (BYU) vs. GOODGER, Joshua/KAMDEM, Jarod (TU) 5-6 (DNF)
Order of finish: (2, 1)
Singles Results
- No. 118 KILANI, Majed (TU) def. HILL, Sean (BYU) 6-0, 6-0
- No. 71 GOODGER, Joshua (TU) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6
- BAPTISTA, Lucca (TU) def. PEARCE, John (BYU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6
- TULLIS, Sam (BYU) def. PRITCHARD, Mitchell (TU) 7-5, 6-3
- GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. CORKER, Louis (TU) 6-0, 6-2
- KAMDEM, Boriss (TU) def. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
Order of finish: (1, 5, 4, 2, 6, 3)
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BYU tennis travels to BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge
PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis travels to Indian Wells, California, to compete in the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge presented by Oracle March 16-17 with seven other Division I teams.
The Collegiate Tennis Challenge also consists of No. 26 Arizona State, No. 29 Baylor, No. 39 California, Purdue, South Florida, SMU and Tulsa.
The BNP Paribas Open, also known as the fifth Grand Slam of professional tennis, will take place through March 18. The college players will have the opportunity to watch and be around the pros during the weekend.
BYU (11-1) is coming off a 4-0 sweep of conference opponent Pacific. Sean Hill and Jeffrey Hsu are undefeated in No. 1 doubles. Hill leads the team in No. 1 singles and teammate Ben Gajardo remains undefeated in singles play.
Matches begin Friday morning and will consist of a tournament draw with team advancements. Universities will face off in a regular match with the first team to earn four points advancing in the draw. Matches continue Saturday and conclude on Sunday with the championship match.
The draw can be found here. Follow @OracleTennis or @BNPPARIBASOPEN on Twitter for continuing coverage of the matches. Grounds passes are available for $20 a day. More information can be found here.
Follow Men’s Tennis on Social Media
Fans can keep up with the latest on Cougar tennis by following us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/byumenstennis), Twitter (@BYU_Mens_Tennis) and Instagram (@byumtennis).