PROVO, Utah – The No. 52 BYU men’s tennis team routed the Nevada Wolfpack, 7-0, Friday at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts.

"To have our guys come back two days after a big rival match and play as well as they did, I was very proud," BYU coach Brad Pearce said. "I was impressed with how Georgy [Batrakov] performed, along with the rest of our guys. It was a great effort on their part and I'm really proud of them."

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In doubles, senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka took a quick 7-1 lead over Wessim Derbel and Fernando Sunaqo on Court 1. With BYU serving for the match, Kawka dished out an ace for an 8-1 victory.

Playing at the No. 3 position, freshman Keaton Cullimore and senior Michael Eraso broke Nevada’s serve for a 7-5 lead. The pair went on to take the match, 8-5.

One point later, senior Spencer Smith and freshman Francis Sargeant wrapped up their match on Court 2 against Quentin Meqe and Victor Ouvrard. After a 5-4 score, the Cougars took three games in a row to finish 8-4.

Two days after defeating rival Utah, the Cougars (5-5) did not drop a single set to the Wolfpack (3-4) in singles. 

Playing at the No. 3 position, Smith was the first off the courts for the Cougars in singles, topping his opponent 6-2, 6-4.

Only needing one game to secure a Court 4 win, Cullimore battled through back-and-forth advantages to take the match against Jordan Rozenfeld, 6-2, 6-4.

Playing at the No. 1 position, No. 50 Batrakov held serve to get to 3-3 in the second set. The Russian netter broke away and won the next six games to top No. 80 Derbel, 6-4, 6-3, and clinch the BYU win.

Kawka’s 6-0, 7-6(2) victory over Meqe on Court 4 gave the Cougars their fifth point of the night.  

Sargeant and Eraso won their respective matches on Court 5 and 6 to wrap up the sweep. 

The Cougars next travel to Colorado to take on Air Force on Feb. 24 and Denver on Feb. 25.

No. 52 BYU – 7
Nevada – 0
 

Singles competition:

1. No. 50 Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. No. 80 Wessim Derbel (NEV), 6-4, 6-3
2. Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Victor Ouvrard (NEV), 6-0, 7-6(2)
3. Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Moez Charqui (NEV), 6-2, 6-4
4. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) def. Jordan Rozenfeld (NEV), 6-2, 6-4
5. Francis Sargeant (BYU) vs. Quentin Meqe (NEV), 6-4, 6-2
6. Michael Eraso (BYU) def. Fernando Sunaqo (NEV), 6-2, 6-2
 

Doubles competition:

1. G. Batrakov/P. Kawka (BYU) def. W. Derbel/F. Sunaqo (NEV), 8-1
2. F. Sargeant/S. Smith (BYU) def. Q. Meqe/V. Ouvrard (NEV), 8-4
3. K. Cullimore/M. Eraso (BYU) def. N. Reix/M. Charqui (NEV), 8-5
 

Match notes:

BYU (5-5); national ranking #52
Nevada (3-4)
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2), Singles (3, 4, 1, 2, 6, 5)

PROVO, Utah – Looking for its first road win of the season, the No. 52 BYU men’s tennis team travels to Salt Lake City for the Deseret Dual with instate rival University of Utah on Wednesday before returning home to host Nevada, Friday.

“I think our guys will come in confident, which they should,” BYU coach Brad Pearce said. “We love rivalry matches. It’s something to get exited about, above and beyond your every day matches. It’s important to us. We have two tough matches this week; Nevada is a good team. I’m feeling pretty good about our preparation though.”

The Cougars (3-4) challenge the undefeated Utes (4-0) Wednesday at the Eccles Tennis Center at 5 p.m. BYU currently leads the 2011-12 Deseret Dual, 25-13. 

Three BYU players are nationally ranked, including senior Georgy Batrakov at No. 43, freshman Keaton Cullimore at No. 67, and No. 106 sophomore Patrick Kawka.

The Utes are coming off a week-long break following a 7-0 sweep over Idaho State. The Cougars look to bounce back after dropping a 5-2 decision at No. 9 Stanford. A bright spot to the loss came on Court 2 where Kawka upset No. 75 Matt Kandath, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6(3). Kawka is 5-2 in dual matches this season.

The last meeting between the rivals was in April of 2011 when BYU routed Utah, 6-1. Utah leads the all-time series with 57 wins to BYU’s 47.

Utah and BYU have each faced Weber State, Idaho State and Montana State, defeating them by the same scores of 7-0, 7-0, and 6-1, respectively.

Following the rivalry match, the Cougars return home to host Nevada at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts Friday.

The Wolf Pack (3-3) is coming off a 6-1 loss to No. 33 Fresno State.

The last meeting between the two teams came in Feb 2011 when BYU swept Nevada, 7-0. The Cougars are 7-1 in the series against the Wolf Pack. 

The match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Pizza and prizes will be provided. Spectators may park in the “Y Lot” parking lots to the northwest and southwest of the courts anytime after 4 p.m. Admission is free.