Hill's clinch helps No. 38 BYU defeat Denver 4-2

DENVER – Sean Hill clinched to help No. 38 BYU men’s tennis defeat Denver 4-2 Saturday at the Stapleton Tennis Pavilion.

"I have great respect for Coach Rubio—he always has good players, they are well coached, very fair and compete hard,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “The only reason we're coming home with a win is because we won the doubles point, Sam [Tullis] pulled through, and John [Pearce] and Sean [Hill] put forth nothing less than heroic efforts, playing through extreme sickness and injury, to get us to four wins. We're returning more motivated than ever to get back out on the practice court and continue our improvement.”

The Cougars (9-1, 1-0 WCC) came out strong, claiming wins in two doubles lines to clinch the doubles point over the Pioneers (3-4, 1-0 Summit League). BYU duo John Pearce and Ben Gajardo defeated Eric Morris and Pedro Fernandez Del Valle 6-4 in No. 2 doubles, while Sam Tullis and David Ball earned a win over Jorge Nunez and Mattia Ros 7-5 in No. 3 doubles.

Moving into singles play and up 1-0, BYU earned the first victory with S. Tullis defeating Nunez 6-1, 6-4. Denver claimed a win in No. 6 singles with Jesse Ruder-Hook earning a win over Matthew Pearce 6-1, 6-3.

In No. 3 singles, J. Pearce made a comeback after the first set and beat Fernandez Del Valle 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Pearce has been fighting a sickness all week but fought through the match to grab a win. Denver grabbed another win in No. 2 singles to put the Pioneers behind by one, 3-2.

Hill clinched the win for the Cougars with a three-set win in No. 1 singles against Matt Summers 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Hill was out last week due to injury but made a comeback to help BYU close the match with a solid 4-2 win over Denver.

The Cougars return home next week to host Idaho State Saturday, March 3, at 2 p.m. MST, at the Indoor Tennis Courts. Live stats and video streaming will be available on the men’s schedule page.

Match Results

BYU 4, Denver 2

Doubles Results

1. HILL, Sean/HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) vs. SUMMERS, Matt/RUDER-HOOK, Jesse (DU) 5-6 (DNF)
2. PEARCE, John/GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) def. MORRIS, Eric/FERNANDEZ DEL VALLE, Pedro (DU) 6-4
3. TULLIS, Sam/BALL, David (BYU) def. NUNEZ, Jorge/ROSS, Mattia (DU) 7-5

Order of finish: (2, 3)

Singles Results

1. HILL, Sean (BYU) def. SUMMERS, Matt (DU) 7-6, 2-6, 6-4
2. MORRIS, Eric (DU) def. HSU, Jeffrey (BYU) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6
3. PEARCE, John (BYU) def. FERNANDEZ DEL VALLE, Pedro (DU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. TULLIS, Sam (BYU) def. NUNEZ, Jorge (DU) 6-1, 6-4
5. GAJARDO, Ben (BYU) vs. CASTELINO, Ignatius (DU) 7-5, 5-7, 4-5 (DNF)
6. RUDER-HOOK, Jesse (DU) def. PEARCE, Matthew (BYU) 6-1, 6-3

Order of finish: (4, 6, 3, 2, 1)

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