Cougars dominate in singles play at ITA Regional Championships

DENVER – Led by BYU's Matheus Ferreira Leite upset win over the No. 5 seed, four Cougar players advanced into the Round of 16, at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships,  Thursday.

“I love how our guys are competing, win or lose,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “This tournament is as much about mental and physical toughness as it is about playing great tennis. One match at a time and one day at a time is the focus.”

Singles Main Draw

Ferreira Leite upset the No. 5 seed Mattia Ross, from the University of Denver, in a decisive 6-1, 7-5 victory.

No. 1 seed Sean Hill handily took the 6-2, 6-3 victory over the University of Idaho’s Francisco Bascon-Perez. As the No. 12 seed, Mateo Vereau Melendez topped his opponent, Milos Dabic of the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), in a quick 6-1, 7-5 match while teammate Sam Tullis defeated UNLV’s Tom Ciszewski 6-2, 6-4.

In the other main draw singles matches, Ben Gajardo faced the No. 8 seed, Russell Benkaim of the University of Utah, but fell in a close 4-6, 5-7 match. Jack Barnett lost to the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) Raul Dobai in a grueling three-set match at 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6.

Singles Consolation

In the round of 64, David Ball easily took down Benjamin Campin of Nevada, 6-1, 6-4, while Kobe Tran had a bye.

In the round of 32, both Cougars fell to their opponents. Ball put up a battle against Denver’s Pedro Fernandez Del Valle but lost 2-6, 1-6, while Tran dropped his match 1-6, 1-6, to Facundo Bermejo of UNM.

Doubles

For the doubles round of 32, No. 1 seed Gajardo and Tullis handily beat Sergiu Bucur and Arvid Hjalte of Utah State, 8-3. No. 3 seed Hill and Vereau Melendez also claimed success as they defeated Northern Arizona’s Eban Straker-meads and Facundo Tumosa 8-3.

Ball and Ferreira Leite put up a fight against UNM’s Dobai and Jake Trondson, but fell 5-8, while Barnett and Tran dropped their match 4-8 to No. 2 seed James Davis and Matt Summers of Denver.

Tomorrow, the Cougars will have four singles players and two doubles duos competing in the round of 16 of the singles and doubles main draws. The tournament schedule and living scoring can be found here.