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PROVO -- A sweep of Idaho State at home gave the No. 65 BYU men’s tennis team its fifth win of the season. The Cougars have yet to lose a match at home this season.

“We felt like we were the stronger team going into it,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said.

After making some changes to the pairs lineup, the Cougars easily claimed the doubles point with wins on all three courts. The sophomore duo of Thomas Shubert and Evan Urbina started things off for BYU with an 8-0 victory at the No. 1 position.

Twosome Georgy Batrakov and A.J. Young secured the point with their 8-1 win. Cassidy Mears and Daniel Hwang struggled to gain an advantage over their opponents but eventually pulled out an 8-5 scoreline.

The freshmen took the lead in singles with Roman Warias and Batrakov putting BYU one win away from taking the match. Mears clinched the win after defeating Alex Buceta in straight sets on court four.

Shubert, Urbina and Hwang closed the match with three more wins, completing the sweep. With the win, the Cougars improve to 5-2 while the Bengals fall to 0-7.

“The competitive situation with a real match is hard to duplicate,” Pearce said. “We got exactly what we wanted out of this match, which is preparation for Friday.”

The Cougars will continue their homestand Friday against Santa Clara and No. 48 Denver. The first match begins at noon and the second match starts at 6 p.m.

Admission to the matches is free, and the team will make pizza and cookies available to fans. Both matches will take place at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, south of the Smith Fieldhouse. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are open to visitors after 4 p.m.

Match Results
BYU- 7
Idaho State-0
Doubles
1. Shubert/Urbina (BYU) def. DeChant/Royo (ISU) 8-0
2. Hwang/Mears (BYU) def. Barrenechea/Buceta (ISU) 8-5
3. Batrakov/Young (BYU) def. Buckingham/Kutchins (ISU) 8-1
BYU wins the doubles point—Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles   
1. E. Urbina (BYU) def. J. Royo (ISU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1  
2. T. Shubert (BYU) def. D. Barrenechea (ISU) 6-1, 6-3
3. R. Warias (BYU) def. Mancera (ISU) 6-0, 6-0
4. C. Mears (BYU) def. A. Buceta (ISU) 6-1, 6-1*
5. G. Batrakov (BYU) def. R. DeChant (ISU) 6-0, 6-2
6. D. Hwang (BYU) D. Buckingham (ISU) 8-4 
* denotes clinching the match—Order of Finish: 3, 5, 4, 2, 1, 6

PROVO -- PROVO -- After taking last week off, the No. 65 men’s tennis team will return to Provo to host Idaho State Wednesday and a doubleheader against No. 48 Denver and Santa Clara Friday. The 4-2 Cougars have not played for three weeks because inclement weather canceled two matches scheduled for Feb. 6 and 7.

“We have a good opportunity to be 3-0 this week and that is our primary goal. In order to accomplish it, the guys need to come out and compete and play good, solid tennis,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said.

Idaho State has yet to win a match this season and is currently 0-6. Most recently, the Bengals fell 4-3 to Northern Colorado. BYU last faced ISU in the 2004-2005 season when the Cougars swept the match 7-0.

“We are fortunate to get the match against Idaho State in to get back into match mode and be ready for Friday,” Pearce said.

Santa Clara comes to Provo after having five of six matches postponed because of rain. The Broncos defeated UC Santa Cruz 6-1 Jan. 31 in their first and only match of the season so far. BYU beat Santa Clara 5-2 last year.

Denver is currently 5-4 on the season and coming off a 5-2 victory over Montana State last week. The Pioneers’ only ranked player is No. 83 David Simson. The junior currently owns a 6-3 record in the spring season. The two teams have traded wins over the past six seasons. Last year, Denver edged out the Cougars 4-3 in Colo. to improve their all-time record against BYU to 3-5.

Admission to the contests is free, and the team will provide supporters with pizza and prizes. The match against Idaho State starts at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Friday’s match against Santa Clara begins at noon followed by Denver at 6 p.m. All matches will be in the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts, located south of the Smith Fieldhouse. All BYU “Y Lot” parking lots are available to the public after 4 p.m.