LAS VEGAS – The BYU men’s tennis team ended its run in the ITA Mountain Region Championships Saturday in Las Vegas.

Three Cougar duos represented BYU in the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw Saturday. Freshman Francis Sargeant and junior Spencer Smith advanced for the Cougars to the semifinals.

No. 10-seed Sargeant and Smith upset the No. 5-seeded duo of Enei Bonin and Jens Vorkefeld from Denver, 8-6, to secure a spot in the semifinals. The BYU duo then faced New Mexico’s Phil Anderson and Jadon Phillips but were unable to top the No. 1 seed, falling 8-5.

Weber State’s Oliver Good and Simon Unger slipped past No. 3-seed sophomore Patrick Kawka and senior Georgy Batrakov, 8-6, in the quarterfinals.

Freshman Keaton Cullimore and senior Michael Eraso fell to Marius Cirstea and Andrew Dobbs of Idaho, 8-4, in the quarterfinals to end their tournament run.

The singles and doubles finals will be played Sunday at the Darling Tennis Center.

The Mountain Regional Championship is one of 12 USTA/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men's tennis taking place over the next two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country. The singles and doubles champions from each regional advance to the 2011 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships Nov. 3-6 at the indoor facilities at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

For more information on the tournament, click here. 

PROVO, Utah – With four Cougars ranked in the top 25, the BYU men’s tennis team looks to continue its recent regional success in the 2011 ITA Mountain Region Championships.

“This is an opportunity for our team to compete against great players from around our region and to really show how solid we are from top to bottom,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said.

The tournament begins Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas.

No. 91 senior Georgy Batrakov is the No. 1 seed in the singles bracket, which features 128 athletes. Also seeded is Smith (6), Kawka (10) and freshman Keaton Cullimore (25).

Top-seeded Batrakov is coming off an impressive run at the ITA All-American Championships, reaching the Round of 16 before recording his first loss this fall. Batrakov was the first Cougar since 2002 to accomplish the feat.

Batrakov reached the singles semifinals during the 2010 ITA Mountain Region Championships.

No. 117 Smith has two singles titles under his belt from fall play, claiming the Utah Fall Classic and the University of Utah Intercollegiates singles titles. With a 10-1 record, Smith has only dropped one match since beginning fall play.

No. 53 Kawka looks for success after earning Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year accolades during the 2011 season.  

The 2010 region championships featured an all-Cougar doubles final. Former Cougar Thomas Shubert and junior Spencer Smith defeated former BYU teammate Evan Urbina and sophomore Patrick Kawka, 9-7.

The singles champion and doubles champion will represent the entire Mountain Region in the ITA National Championships in New York at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, cite of the U.S. Open.

For more information on the tournament, click here.