BOISE -- The No. 46 BYU men’s tennis fell just short of an upset Saturday against No. 26 Boise State. The Broncos edged out the Cougars 4-3 to improve their record to 8-6.

BSU swept doubles competition, winning all three matches to secure the point. Sophomores Evan Urbina and A.J. Young dropped an 8-5 match to the No. 54 pair in the country on court one.

In singles play, Boise State took the first two matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Freshman Georgy Batrakov earned the Cougars’ first point of the match with his win on court five. The Broncos then clinched the victory with a win on court two.

Cassidy Mears and Daniel Hwang won their respective matches to bring BYU’s total points to three. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 8-7.

The men’s team will be back in action in the Midwest next week taking on Nebraska and No. 74 Southern Mississippi.

#26 Boise State- 4
#46 BYU - 3
Doubles 
1. #54 Kean Feeder/James Meredith (BSU) def. Evan Urbina/A.J. Young
(BYU) 8-5
2. Stanley Sarapanich/Clancy Shields (BSU) def. Cassidy Mears/Daniel
Hwang (BYU) 8-3
3. Blane Shields/Matt Solomon (BSU) def. Travis Fillmore/Thomas Shubert
(BYU) 8-4
Singles 
1. #26 Clancy Shields (BSU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU) 6-1, 6-2
2. #61 Kean Feeder (BSU) def. Thomas Shubert (BYU) 6-4, 6-4
3. #70 James Meredith (BSU) def. Roman Warias (BYU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Cassidy Mears (BYU) def. Cristian Hodel (BSU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
5. Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Stanley Sarapanich (BSU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Daniel Hwang (BYU) def. Blane Shields (BSU) 7-5, 7-5

PROVO -- A regional rivalry will take place when the No. 46 BYU men’s tennis team travel to Idaho to face No. 26 Boise State. The teams have competed 28 times with BYU winning 16 of those matches.

“Boise State is a good, well-coached team,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We need to play good, solid matches from top to bottom to come out with a win.”

BYU enters the match coming off a 4-1 loss to No. 58 Middle Tennessee in last week’s HEB Invitational. Despite the defeat the Cougars jumped 19 spots in the rankings to No. 46, marking the team’s highest ranking in the last ten years.

“We’re making good progress and our newest ranking reflects that,” Pearce said. “But there’s still a long way to go in the season.”

Boise State is currently 7-6 on the season with its most recent match ending in a 6-1 loss to No. 18 Texas A & M. The team boasts three ranked singles players, No. 26 Clancy Shields, No. 61 Kean Feeder and No. 70 James Meredith. Meredith and Feeder are also ranked in doubles, with the duo claiming the No. 54 spot.

The Broncos beat BYU 5-2 when the teams last met in 2006. Last year’s match was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Saturday’s match against Boise State begins at 11 a.m. MT.