BYU falls to No. 56 New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The BYU men's tennis team let momentum get away as it fell 6-1 to No. 56 New Mexico at the Linda Estes Tennis Complex on Friday.

 

The Cougars drop to 6-8 on the season with the loss to the Lobos (14-4).

 

"New Mexico played a good match," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "Losing the doubles point in a tiebreaker put us in an uphill climb starting singles. We'll be looking to perform better against No. 31 Texas Tech."

 

BYU came out with energy in doubles, but New Mexico squeezed out the point.

 

Third doubles team Jeremy Bourgeois and Sterling Galli fell to their opponents 8-4 in the first finish, but the Cougars evened the count with Andrey Goryachkov and Robin Pfister edging out James Hignett and Samir Iftikhar, 8-6, in first doubles.

 

The point came down to second doubles with Francis Sargeant and Matthew Pearce, but they fell in tiebreakers to Hayden Sabatka and Andrew Van Der Vyver, 8-7.

 

Highlighting singles play for BYU was freshman Jacob Sullivan. At the No. 6 singles slot, he secured a two-set win, 7-5, 6-4, to put the Cougars on the  board. 

 

Junior captain Sargeant fell at first singles to Iftikhar for only his second loss in 2014 dual matches. The 114th-ranked player took the first set before losing the next two, the final in a tiebreaker, 6-7, 6-2, 1-0 (2).

 

The Cougars will be back in action tomorrow against No. 31 Texas Tech at 11 a.m. MST at the Estes Tennis Complex.

 

Result: UNM def. BYU, 6-1

 

Doubles Results:

Goryachkov/Pfister (BYU) def. Hignett/Iftikhar (UNM), 8-6

Sabatka/Van Der Vyver (UNM) def. Sargeant/Pearce (BYU), 8-7

Jauregui/McDaniels (UNM) def. Bourgeois/Galli (BYU), 8-4

Order of Finish: (3, 1, 2)

 

Singles Results:

Iftikhar (UNM) def. Sargeant (BYU), 6-7, 6-2, 1-0 (2)

Sabatka (UNM) def. Goryachkov (BYU), 6-2, 6-4

Jauregui (UNM) def. Bourgeois (BYU), 7-6, 6-1

Van Der Vyver (UNM) def. Pfister (BYU), 6-0, 6-4

Hignett (UNM) def. Pearce (BYU), 7-6, 6-2

Sullivan (BYU) def. McDaniels (UNM), 7-5, 6-4

Order of Finish: (4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 1)