Cougars sweep T-Birds in home opener

Final Box Score

PROVO, Utah-- The BYU men's tennis team kicked off its 2016 season by sweeping the Southern Utah T-Birds 7-0 at home Friday night, only giving up 10 games the entire match.

"It was great for our guys to experience match condtions in front of a standing room only crowd," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "It was an incredible atmosphere. I have great respect for Coach Staheli and his players for their effort and their sportmanship. We have the right mix of leadership, talent and competiveness with return of missionaries and the improvement of our players this summer. We've also added a talented freshman to the mix in JD Malan. I'm excited for practice tomorrow morning as we prepare for our first road trip of the season next week." 

The Cougars (1-0, 0-0) got on the board quickly by winning the doubles point. Shane Monroe and Keaton Cullimore defeated SUU's Brandon Olcott and Dario Rios 6-1 and John Pearce and Jeremy Bourgeois took down Joshua Coen and Peyton Garnett 6-2 to put BYU up 1-0 early on. Because the doubles point had already been won, Andrey Goryachkov and Jacob Sullivan's match was called at 5-3.

BYU didn't allow Southern Utah (0-1, 0-0) to get anything going on the singles side either. Cullimore, Goryachkov and Pearce each swept their opponents 6-0, 6-0 to claim three singles points for BYU. Monroe defeated Ryan Andrus 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles spot to give the Cougars a 5-0 lead. Bourgeois defeated SUU's Joshua Coen 6-0, 6-2, and JD Malan sealed the sweep for the Cougars with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Peyton Garnett. 

The Cougars will head to Hawaii next week to face three different teams: BYU-Hawai'i, Sacramento State, and the University of Hawai'i. Their next home match is Jan. 22 against Weber State.