No. 39 Cougars Claim Sixth-Straight Win

BOISE -- Continuing its domination of nationally ranked teams, the No. 39 BYU men’s tennis team took down No. 54 Boise State Saturday, only giving up one point in the 6-1 road win.

The win against Boise State was BYU’s fifth-straight win against a ranked team and sixth-straight win overall. Boise State’s one point in Saturday’s match was the first point BYU has given up in the last six matches.

“I think we’re continuing a trend here,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “We’re not giving up points lightly. The guys showed great maturity and fight. That’s what great teams do; they take desire and channel it.”

Georgy Batrakov and Thomas Shubert started the match off strong for the Cougars (10-4) with an 8-2 doubles win on Court 2. Patrick Kawka and Evan Urbina had their hands full on Court 1 but pulled away with an 8-6 win to secure the doubles point for BYU.

Boise State’s Damian Hume pulled off a win against Urbina in singles, but the Cougars made sure that was the Broncos’ only win. Batrakov made quick work of Filipp Pogostkin in their 6-3, 6-0 match for BYU’s first singles point. Kawka defeated Andy Bettles in the first of five three-set singles match wins for BYU (6-4, 2-6, 6-4) and Thomas Shubert capped off the Cougar victory with a win on Court 5 against Jeff Mullen (6-2, 6-7, 6-3)

Spencer Smith and Roman Warias netted the last two singles wins for BYU, Smith defeating Scott Sears 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 and Warias defeating Nathan Sereke 3-6, 7-6, 10-6.

“We tried to prepare the guys and gave them a challenge,” Pearce said. “As a team, you can’t be great unless you win on the road. I think they took that challenge to win on the road in the right way. It was a pretty hostile environment. We prepped our guys for that, because we knew it would be.”

Saturday, the Cougars play University of Pacific at noon at the BYU Outdoor Tennis Courts, weather permitting. Admission is free and spectators may park in Y Lot parking lots to the northwest and south of the courts.

No. 39 BYU vs. No. 54 Boise State
BYU-6     BSU-1
DOUBLES
1. Patrick Kawka/Evan Urbina (BYU) def. Damian Hume/Scott Sears (BSU) 8-6
2. Georgy Batrakov/Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Jeff Mullen/Nathan Sereke (BSU) 8-2
3. Andy Bettles/Filipp Pogostkin (BSU) def. Spencer Smith/Roman Warias (BYU) 8-7 (7-4)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLES
1. Hume (BSU) def. Urbina (BYU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Batrakov (BYU) def. Pogostkin (BSU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Smith (BYU) def. Sears (BSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
4. Kawka (BYU) def. Bettles (BSU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
5. Shubert (BYU) def. Mullen (BSU) 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
6. Warias (BYU) def. Sereke (BSU) 3-6, 7-6, 10-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6