No. 54 Cougars fall on the road to No. 70 Pacific
STOCKTON, Calif. – In the final match of the regular season, BYU men's tennis fell 4-0 to Pacific on Saturday at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
"Pacific is a good team and played well today," BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. "I felt that our indoor match against Saint Mary's didn't prepare us as well as I would have liked for the slower, outdoor conditions today and our guys seemed a little depleted after a tough week of finals and the transition to our matches this weekend."
No. 70 Pacific (14-12, 6-3 West Coast Conference) took control early with wins at first and second doubles to claim the doubles point. Shane Monroe and Andre Goryachkov fell at the No. 1 spot, 6-2, to the Tigers' Sam Verbeek and Jose Chamba, ranked No. 86. Jacob Sullivan and John Pearce also fell at No. 2 in a 6-3 match against Pacific's Alex Giannini and Daniel Alameh.
In singles competition, junior Keaton Cullimore came up short on court No. 2, falling 6-2, 6-0 to Alameh. The Tigers' Miguel Diaz scored the next point of the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win at fourth singles against BYU's John Pearce. Verbeek clinched the match at first singles with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Monroe.
At sixth singles, BYU's Aidan Carrazedo held a 6-4, 4-3 lead before play was suspended and Goryachkov held a 7-6, 3-0 advantage at the No. 3 slot.
"Despite our loss today, locking up a second place finish was a great achievement by this team, and they should be proud of what they accomplished," Pearce said. "We were originally picked to finish seventh in the preseason, so to go 7-2 and finish second is a great accomplishment. We're excited to be finished with finals and ready to focus on preparing for the conference tournament."
With a 7-2 WCC record, the Cougars will earn a No. 2 seed in the WCC tournament. BYU also finished with an 18-6 record and a No. 54 national ranking.
The WCC tournament will begin Wednesday, April 27, in Claremont, California. Specific match details will be posted to the BYU schedule page.
#70 Pacific 4, #54 BYU 0
Singles competition
1. Sem Verbeek (PAC) def. Shane Monroe (BYU) 6-1, 7-5
2. Daniel Alameh (PAC) def. Keaton Cullimore (BYU) 6-2, 6-0
3. Jose Chamba (PAC) vs. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-7 (5-7), 0-3, unfinished
4. Miguel Diaz (PAC) def. John Pearce (BYU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Alex Giannini (PAC) vs. Jeremy Bourgeois (BYU) 5-7, 3-2, unfinished
6. Bernardo Oliveira (PAC) vs. Aidan Carrazedo (BYU) 4-6, 3-4, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #86 Sem Verbeek/Jose Chamba (PAC) def. Shane Monroe/Andrey Goryachkov (BYU) 6-2
2. Alex Giannini/Daniel Alameh (PAC) def. John Pearce/Jacob Sullivan (BYU) 6-3
3. Bernardo Oliveira/Miguel Diaz (PAC) vs. Jeremy Bourgeois/Keaton Cullimore (BYU) 4-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,4,1)